Highs and Lows
by 34nimmixey33
Summary: Gabriella Montez, rich, beautiful, and lonely. When she stumbles upon Troy Bolton her highschool sweetheart living on the streets will she take him in or leave him in the streets? With a new man on the horizon will Troyella revive itself and thrive on?
1. Chapter 1

*****I finally updated! Sorry I took soo long, there where many complications along the way. Well I hope you enjoy it! :)*****

"Hello, this is Sharpay's phone. Sorry, I'm not here to answer my phone right now, please leave your name, number, and message after tone," Sharpay, my best friend, recorded voice rang.

"Hey Shar, its Gabi. If you get this message within twenty minutes call me back. If you get this message after twenty minutes I leave this message then forget that I called. So, yeah, I think that's all I have to say. Bye!" I said and the pressed 'end' on my iphone, and placed it in my Louis Vuitton bag.

"Miss. Montez, will Miss. Evans be joining us on our shopping trip this afternoon?" my butler/chauffer Mark asked.

"Once again Mark, call me Gabi. And I don't know if Sharpay is going to be joining me, because she won't answer her fucking phone," I told him. Then my phone started singing 'Whatcha Say' by Jason Derulo. "It's probably Sharpay right now."

"Okay Miss. Montez," I gave him a dirty look. "Sorry, I mean Gabi."

"Hello?" I said cheerfully.

"Hey so what did you want?" Sharpay asked.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping with me," I said.

"Sure, I don't have much of anything today so sure. Are we going to do the usual?" she asked. Let me explain this to you, our usual is shopping in the afternoon, clubbing in the evening, and sex with a guy we got at the club. That's our schedule for most every Saturday.

"Yup, the usual. What else would we do?" I laughed.

"I don't know? Well got to go make myself bea-ut-if-ul," she sang. "Later slut!"

"Bye Hun," I said back. And I hung up my cell.

"The usual, Gabi?" Mark said, as if he hadn't heard the conversation that Sharpay and I just had.

"Yeah Mark, the usual." I told him.

"Gabi, would you like me to drive you or would you like to drive? And which car?" Mark said.

"I'll drive Mark, and I'll take my red '77 corvette. You can have the day off, just get my corvette around, and then you may take the yellow '09 corvette and enjoy yourself today!" I exclaimed.

"Why, thank you Gabi. I'll get your corvette around immediately," he said in a happier voice than before.

"You can also charge anything that you buy onto my credit card, I'll cover everything."

"Yes, Gabi. And thanks once more." Mark stated in a voice full of gratitude.

"It's nothing," I told him as I shut my doors to my bedroom. My closet was about the same size as my room, and it was mostly my clothes, a few of the clothing was my parents. They still live in Albuquerque, but when they visit me here in New York City they like to travel lightly. I grabbed a simple white Dolce & Gabbana skirt, and a black tank from DNKY. I grabbed my Gucci peep toe high heels in black. I put on my makeup and let my hair go its naturally curly self. I picked up my Louis Vuitton tote, when my phone started to go off. I quickly picked up my cell and pressed call. "Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Gabi," rang a voice that belonged to none other than Taylor McKessie.

"Hi, so what's up?" I asked as I exited my apartment and walked towards the elevator.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch with me," she asked.

"Oh I would love to, but the thing is that I'm going shopping with Sharpay and then we're going to go clubbing," I told her while pressing the button on the wall outside of the elevator.

"Okay. Well do you think that Sharpay would want to go to lunch with me? If you wanted to," she said, not giving up.

"Actually that is a great idea I think that she would go. DO you want to go shopping and clubbing with us?" I asked.

"Sure. How about we go to the Teabox? I've been craving their Sen-Cha tea for a while now," she stated.

"Okay. I'll call Sharpay. We'll meet you there in like half an hour, 'kay?" I say.

"Certainly, bye!" she hung up the phone.

"Good bye," I told the phone, knowing that Taylor had already hung up. While stepping into the elevator I called Sharpay, again.

"Hello?" Sharpay's asked.

"Hey, Sharpay, it's Gabi."

"Oh, hey Gab. Not trying to be mea, but why did you call me again? Did something come up? She asked, not giving me any time to answer her between questions.

"Shar!" I interrupted. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just calling to ask if it would be okay if we also had lunch," I asked only wanting to ask her one question at a time.

"Sure, I mean that sounds fabulous! So where are we going to eat at?" she inquired.

"Um, I was thinking the Teabox. And what if someone else went with us today? I mean to lunch, shopping, and clubbing. Would that be okay?" I casually said that.

"Since it sounds like you've already made pans on doing that, why not? Sounds fun. So who is the person anyways?"

"It's Taylor McKessie, you remember her from high school, right?" I said.

"Yeah I do, God I remember when we were the best of friends. And the biggest sluts in the school! We practically had sex with every guy in East High, single and taken. Well, we all did until you got a 'serious' boyfriend, then you left Taylor and I to have all the fun without you. Hmm, what his name was. Oh yeah, it was Troy. I wonder where he is now. I heard that he moved to New York City too, well after he finished college in California. I think I heard that he was trying to get into a Broadway production," she rambled on. Barely taking a breath between words and sentences, making them sound like one giant sentence. The thought of Troy made my heart stop, made my lungs stop working, and a shiver go down my spine.

"Yup, so I'll ne at your apartment in ten to fifteen minutes, depending on the amount of traffic between here and there," I told her, trying to change the subject.

"Okay, bye!"

"Bye." I hung up the phone. I had finally reached my car. I opened the door and slid into the seat. I put my key in the ignition and turned on the radio. Blaring from the speakers was 'Party in the USA' by Miley Cirus. Personally I hate the song, but I always sing along and it is often stuck in my mind. I slowly backed my corvette out of the parking garage and started making my way towards Sharpay's place. There was a little bit of traffic and within fifteen minutes of leaving my apartment I was at Sharpay's apartment's parking garage. I quickly made my way up to her apartment. I knocked on her door, and after the first tap of my knuckles against the wood door it flew open.

"Hey Gabi! Come on in," she said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me in. Once inside I gave her an examination of her outfit, as she did the same to me. Her brown hair was pulled back into a loose pony tail and a few strands of curls hung around her face, framing it. She had on a simple teal colored dress that had a little bit of white design on it. The dress didn't even make it down to her knees. She also had on Prada boots that went up to her knees.

"Nice outfit, Shar. You do know that it's just us girls going out to lunch and shopping right? There are no boys until tonight," I reminded her.

"I know, I know. Still I enjoy having them look at me. And who are you to be judging? Miss, super low cut shirt, I can almost see all of your boobs and so-short skirt I can almost see your ass," she countered. We started laughing.

"Okay, well I think that we should leave now. Taylor's probably waiting for at the restaurant right now," I inform her.

We were in the car soon after that, heading to the Teabox. On the way there Sharpay and I were singing 'Smile' by Uncle Kracker, really out of tune.

"What stores do you want to hit?" Sharpay asked, as she was gazing out the windows at the oncoming cars.

"Um I would love to go to Gucci and maybe H&M. That's all I can think of right now," I replied.

"Okay, well I need to go Sephora, Express, and Prada," she said. I nodded, and the rest of the car ride was silent besides us singing. We had gotten to the Teabox quicker than I had imaged we would. I parked my corvette, Sharpay and I promptly walked in to find Taylor already there. She was sitting there reading over the menu, drinking tea.

"Hi Taylor," I said as Sharpay and I sat down.

"Oh, you're here. And are you okay with Sen-Cha tea, because I already ordered it," she explained, Taylor rose her tea cup showing us what she had meant.

"Yeah, that's good with me," Sharpay said. "So, Taylor how's your day been?"

"Pretty good so far. I got up early for a run, and decided I wanted to go out for lunch. Not much has happened today. How's your day been, Sharpay?" she responded politely.

"Almost the same thing happened here too. Well besides the deciding I wanted to go out for lunch, and going for a run. Gabrielle called and asked if I wanted to go shopping and clubbing, so that's how I got here. And I was having some company over," Sharpay answered.

"Glad to see you two talking. And my day has been wonderful, thanks for the concern guys," I said.

"We were getting to you," Taylor replied.

"We were?" Sharpay joked. I sent her a hurt look; she knew that I was joking so it didn't affect her.

"Taylor, Sharpay and I already had this talk in the car, so where do you want to go today when we're shopping?" I asked her.

"Uh, I was thinking about hitting Louis Vuitton and maybe H&M," she replied, and placed her tea cup to her lips and took a drink.

"I wanted to go to H&M too. So all the places we want to go are: H&M, Express, Sephora, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Prada. Do I have everything?" I listed; taking out my phone I pulled up the notes section of the phone and wrote typed it all down not wanting to forget anything.

"Typical Gabrielle," Sharpay stated.

"What does that mean?" I asked, looking up from my phone.

"It means that you are taking notes on everything, not like you'll forget it anytime soon. And you're analyzing the best route on your phone trying to give us the 'best' shopping trip this week, even though you already know the way to go. You're too smart for you," she said causally, like she was stating the weather.

"I do not!" I said while trying to hide the fact that my phone was indeed on a map of New York City charting the best way to hit all the stores the quickest. "I simply like to double check my work. There is no problem with wanting to be correct all the time. It makes you successful."

"She is right Gabi," Taylor said.

"Okay, so maybe it is true but there is nothing wrong with trying to be proficient," I said trying to act like it was no big deal. "I thought that you guys would like to have the longest possible time in the stores."

"We do, Gabi. Just because Sharpay and I make fun of you a few times doesn't mean we don't love you, it just means that Sharpay and I aren't capable of doing that much work. And that we would be a mess if you weren't here with us," Taylor said trying to cover up what Sharpay said.

"Yeah, it's true. I don't know what I would do without you. Wait I know, be n major debt. You always track how much I spend and how much I can then tell me if I should or shouldn't buy the item. I just point out things that are you and sometimes make fun of them because I don't have anything better to do in my life," Sharpay explained. I just nodded. They were right, Sharpay would be in major debt if didn't shop with me.

"Okay, I'm sorry I over reacted," I apologized. Just then the waiter showed up, he asked us for our orders. We gave them to him, and soon enough our food came out. Us three talked throughout the entire meal, talking about the latest at work and what clothes we wanted to buy because we've seen them in a catalog or if there suppose to be in style this season. Before long we were done eating our meals and the waiter was back with our bill. We quickly paid our bills and were out of there.

"Taylor can we take your Audi shopping? I forgot that there were three of us and my corvette only allows two people," I told her. I had totally forgotten that my corvette only takes two people or I would have brought my red '79 Trans Am Firebird, which seats four.

"Of course we can Gabi," she simply said. Sharpay and I followed her to her black Audi R8. She got into the driver's seat. I got into the back and Sharpay got into passenger's seat, but only after a small argument that Sharpay and I had about who had the passenger's seat. Once in the car we started to discuss which store to go to first.

We decided to go to H&M first because Taylor and I both wanted to go there. As soon as we get in there we look through every rack of clothing, usually picking up a thing or two. After I had found a few pairs of jeans and a shirt or two, Taylor found a dress and some shorts, and Sharpay found a wide variety of shoes, dresses, pants, and shirts. We quickly got out of there and placed our bags in the car, and headed down to Express. Once more we grabbed a few things here and there and left.

Then we headed down to Sephora, Sharpay grabs a few bottles of mascara and some eyeliner. I happen upon a beautiful container of eye shadow and buy it. We leave the store. After hitting all of the stores that were on our list Taylor drives Sharpay and I back to my car.

"Thanks for the ride Taylor," I say to her, while grabbing my shopping bags that were in the trunk of her car.

"You're welcome Gabi. When should I head to the club?" Taylor asked me.

"Um, how about five thirty, five forty five, does that work for you two?" I asked after looking at the clock on my phone. It read 3:27 pm.

"That works for me," Sharpay mumbled, because she had the handles of three of her bags in her mouth.

"It works for me too," Taylor announced while helping Sharpay with her bags. As you can probably tell Sharpay buys a lot, but she can. Sharpay works for Broadway; she is part of many of the shows and works in the back with costumes. She is also helping me with our little boutique that sells her fashions that she designs. Sharpay designs the clothing and creates it, while I handle the financial work and all of the little jobs. I also work for a company that creates new ideas to make everyday items more eco-friendly and economically friendly as well. Taylor on the other hand works for a magazine and she is the assistant editor and a writer. As my father likes to call us, we are strong independent women that do not need a man in our life to make us capable but all we need is ourselves, well it was something like that.

I made an alarm on my phone to remind me twenty minutes before I was supposed to be there.

"There you go again, making an alarm," Sharpay said. She had finally finished placing all of her bags into the car.

"Yeah, yeah, but I will not be late as you probably will be," I told her as I went around to the driver's side of the car and getting into the seat. "Goodbye Tay, see you tonight."

"True. Later Taylor!" Sharpay exclaimed as we speed away from Taylor and her car. We started to sing out of tune and gossip on our way to Sharpay's apartment. Once we got there Sharpay and I each took two trips of bags to her apartment, and we were almost to the point of falling over due to the amount of weight on us.

"Okay, I think that's it. See you in a few hours Shar," I told her as I started to exit her apartment.

"See ya' later Gabi," she said over her shoulder while starting to place her newly bought items into her giant closet. After I left her apartment I headed to my corvette. Once inside I started and headed over to the local baker's. I ordered one of the large doughnuts with the icing in the doughnut. Why yes I do know that they are fattening and full of calories and carbs but sometimes a girl needs a full serving of pure fat and sugar. After my stop at the bakers I went home.

"Mommies home baby," I exclaimed as Shadow, my toy poodle, ran over to me and jumped up into my arms. "I know Shadow, it's been a really long day and I've missed you so much."

After petting my dog and get a large glass of apple juice I walked over to my closet to decide what to wear to go clubbing. I needed something sexy, yet modest. Something exciting and one of a kind, but still calm and not loud. After about twenty minutes of searching I found it. A white and black dress, the length of it was down to my knees and it had a semi-low v-neck that showed enough cleavage but not too much. It had some sparkle to it but not too much. It was perfect. I paired it with some black, sparkly high heels and a simple diamond necklace. I glanced over at the time; it was five o'clock on the dot.

I had twenty minutes to burn, so I sat down on my couch and watched the Discovery channel which was broadcasting Mythbusters, a show where a group of five people attempt to bust or prove myths. Before I knew it my phone went off telling me that I had twenty minutes until I had to be at the club. I quickly grabbed my keys and I went out to my car. Within fifteen minutes I was there, and within twenty minutes of leaving my apartment I was looking for Taylor and Sharpay.

"Gabi!" someone was calling my name, I looked behind me and there was Sharpay walking towards me.

"Shar!" I called back. We embraced, and then went on walking trying to find Taylor. "Where do you think she is?"

"Uh, somewhere in New York is my bet," Sharpay answered thinking that her remark was funny, which it was. "How about you call her?"

"Smart idea! I didn't think that you could come up with something like that," I told her then got out my cell and called Taylor.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Where are you? We're waiting," I said.

"I'm in line, duh," She said.

"Why are you there? We have Sharpay with us; therefore we get in without waiting." I told her.

"Ok, well I'm getting out of line. So where are you?" she asked.

"In front of the club. Do you see us?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," That was the last thing I heard because she then ended the conversation.

"She was in line!" Sharpay exclaimed.

"Yeah, she's new to the whole clubbing thing. Taylor's fast she'll catch on soon," I explained.

"I sure hope so," Sharpay said. Taylor soon caught up to us. We entered after Sharpay told the security guy her job and showed him her id. Music was pounding, people were dancing, and drinks were being poured. Before long Sharpay was on the dance floor, starting to be surrounded by guys and you could tell by the expression that she wore on her face that she was really enjoying the attention.

"Want to go to the bar area?" Taylor asked me. I nodded and headed over there. We both ordered our drinks and were sitting at the bar, scoping out the club. There was a giant dance floor, the bar which we were sitting at, a DJ set up in the corner, and there was a section of the room that had a few plush chairs.

"So what do you think of our, I mean Sharpay and I's usual Saturday routine?" I asked Taylor.

"It's actually fun. The only thing is, don't you ever get bored of doing the same thing every week?" she replied.

"Well, sometimes it does, but there is always something different every time we go out. Maybe there is a new store or maybe we go to a different club, see there is some diversity to the Saturday usual," I answered her, hoping that she would understand what I was explaining.

"That is true. Plus there is always a different outcome every weekend!" she exclaimed. I looked at her quizzically, wondering what she was insinuating. "Sharpay told me that you two go home with a guy every weekend."

"When did she tell you that?" I asked. Do they hang out as well? Is that what Sharpay does every Sunday? Gabrielle it doesn't matter what they do without you.

"When you where in the changing room trying on that cute dress that we found in Express," She said after taking a drink. I was about to say something else, like 'oh' or maybe 'That makes sense' but two guys came up to us before I could say something.

"Hey," said the first guy. He was darker skinned and had an afro. You could tell that he played a sport or workout a lot by the buff body.

"Hi," Taylor replied very flirty. "What's your name?"

"Chad Danforth," he replied. "And what is your name, miss?"

"Taylor McKessie," she told him, and then took another drink.

"Would you like to dance, Taylor?" he asked her, giving her his hand. I gave her an encouraging nod.

"Sure!" she said back, getting up from her seat and handing me her drink. "Will you hold this for me?" she asked me.

"Of course I will. Have fun!" I said after she had probably gotten out of ear sight. The second guy sat down where Taylor had been sitting and ordered a drink. "I don't think that we'll be seeing them for the rest of night," I was attempting to make conversation and I hoped that it would work.

"I think you're right. They seemed to be content just looking at each other," he replied. Apparently this had been a good topic to start a conversation with. "By the way I'm Matthew. What's your name?"

"It's Gabrielle, but everyone calls me Gabi. So how do you know Chad?" I asked. Matthew was a bit taller but not too much, he had light brown hair and dark blue eyes. He had some muscles on him too. He seemed nice enough.

"We both coach at the same school. He coaches basketball and I coach wrestling. Plus he works with me. How do you know Taylor?"

"We went to school together and so we moved to the same place and just kept being friends," I said. "Want to go dance?"

"Sure," he responded. He took his drink and gulped it down all at once. I placed my drink down and walked out to the dance floor with him. We danced and grinded for about an hour when I started to get tired.

"Do you want to go? I'm getting a little tired and I want to leave the club," I told him with big puppy dog eyes hoping that he would leave.

"Sure. Let me go tell Chad that we're leaving," he informed me before he went looking for Chad. I went looking for Sharpay. She was against some man dancing and making out.

"Sharpay," I whispered. "Sharpay," I said a little bit louder. "Sharpay!" I said a lot louder.

"Hm," she looked up and saw me. She pushed the guy back a little and whispered him something, he seemed to understand because he nodded and left. "Yeah Gabi?"

"I'm leaving. Just wanted to let you know, and if you could tell Taylor that I left and that I drank her drink," I informed her. Just at that moment Matthew came over and looked at me wanting to leave. "Be safe Sharpay. Bye." I went over to Matthew and we walked out the door.

"Where is your car?" He asked looking for a car that he had no clue what it looked like.

"It's right over here," I walked over to it. His eyes lighted up.

"That's _your_ car! Man, I've always wanted to ride in a corvette!" he exclaimed.

"How about drive a corvette?" I asked trying to be sexy, I highly doubt that it sounded sexy but I don't think that he cared.

"Me!?! I would love to!" He ran over and kissed my lips. They were a little chapped but they were gentle enough, not the kiss that every little girl waned but it would work for tonight. Matthew broke up the kiss and opened the driver's door, slid in and buckled up. I walked over to the passenger side, opened the door, and took my seat.

"This is so cool!" he sounded like a little kid on Christmas opening the gift that he had been wishing for. We drove off into the street. Even though it was a little past ten pm the street were lit up brightly. We were cruising down the road passing by many people in their cars. Matthew and I were singing along to the radio and were talking about the most random things that could ever think of. Then we stopped at a red light and we stopped, like most all sane people do. I looked out the window. There was something odd about the person outside, he looked really familiar. My breath started to fog up the window, so I used my arm to wipe the fog away. The person was defiantly homeless, but he looked so familiar. He looked up and saw me looking at him. He seemed to think that I looked familiar too. I haven't made friends with homeless people, I mean every once and a while I give a dollar to a person but never have a conversation. The light turned green, and Matthew pressed on the gas and we went flying by. The rest of the way to his house I was distant trying to figure out how I might know a homeless person.

"We're here," Matthew told me. I looked at him and nodded. He went in for a kiss, but I stopped him.

"I can't do this. I'm sorry I lead you to thinking that I would have sex with you. I was planning to but I just can't right now. It was really nice meeting you Matthew," I told him.

"It's okay," he smiled at me. "If it doesn't feel right, then it doesn't feel right. I'm not going to push you into anything. Well it was nice meeting you," he put his hand out and I took it and shook it. We both got out of the car. He went up to his house and I climbed into the driver's seat. I waved goodbye and headed home. I passed by the place where I had saw the guy before but he wasn't there anymore. I thought to myself. _Why do you want to know where this person is? You don't even know who he is! Gabi go home and take a nice long bath and get a cup of tea and go to sleep._

When I got home I trudged up the stairs and went into my apartment. My dog jumped up on me but I placed her back on the floor. I went into my large master bathroom and turned on the water to the bath. I stripped down and went into the warm, inviting water. I enjoyed the thirty minutes that I spent in the bath, relaxing, and reviewing my day. It had been a great day. I realized that I hadn't had my dinner. After getting out of the bath and putting on my warm, deep red, cotton robe I went to the kitchen. I made myself a batch of scrambled eggs and tea. The eggs and tea made a great end of the day, making my stomach all warm and full. I placed my plate, skillet, fork, and cup in the dishwasher I headed off to bed.

When I was about to get into my bed I realized that I did not have any pajamas on. I quickly ran over to my closet and found a pair of silky pajamas that had hearts and Victoria's Secret written on them. I went over to the bathroom and applied my night crème, washed my teeth, and pulled my now dried hair into a pony tail.

I then went over to my bed, fluffed my pillow, and pulled the blankets up. My dog jumped up onto the bed. I then dozed off into sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Hey, its me. I want to say sorry for not updating sooner, i have been working on this chapter for a while and i really wanted it to be good and not bad like the other one so i've read other ones that have lots of detail and great plot lines and i hope that i have somewhat got the basic idea of what they have done. And i would like to say this chapter is sorta dedicated to In My Head by Jason Derulo because that was the song that was on when i finished this chapter. I've rambled on long enough, go a head and read it!_**

* * *

The glow of the lights around me was strong, their light hurt my eyes making me squint. There was a low humming coming from the lights above, giving away that I was in a building. I soon regained sight and started to get feeling in my body. A silky fabric was wrapped around my body, and a pair of heels were on my feet. I looked down, there was a beautiful silky dress that was a deep shade of red and there was detailed stitching and pearls on the bodice. I slowly picked up the beautiful dress I was wearing to see the shoes that I had on. Underneath the layers of fabric a clear peep toe high heel emerged, if felt cold and smooth against the bottom of my delicate foot. My toenails were visible and were painted a subtle pink. My attention then went to my head, there were ringlets of dark brown hair that encircled my face but in the back it was pulled up into an elegant bun. My hand went to the bun, feeling for the reason why my hair was staying up. I hands stroked against more pearls that had been randomly placed into my hair, which were attached to bobby pins that kept my hair up. I deeply wished that a mirror would somehow land in front of me, allowing me to see every stitch and every pearl that was on my dress and in my hair.

My focus then shifted onto the setting. I was standing on marble flooring, black and white mixing together and making beautiful patterns in each tile that was placed. My eyes slowly made their way up the scenery in front of me. Before me there was a vast stairway that went down into a ballroom floor. Couples were happily dancing to classical music that was being played from a small orchestra that was set up in the corner. A giant chandelier hung above the dance floor, it had thousands of crystals that sparked in the light, sending of little tear drops of light that decorated the walls. There were huge windows, and beyond the windows there was a cityscape that was covered in a light dusting of snow while it was snowing large snowflakes that slowly fell to the ground. Everything seemed like it had just came out of a movie.

Suddenly the music stopped as did the couples. Everything stood still, then all the face that were gazing upon each other turned to me. Slowly the dancers backed off and made a circle around a guy. From where I was standing I could see that he was taller than I, which isn't that hard of a feat. His body was obviously muscular because you could see the outline on his biceps through his clothing. The mystery man had beautiful brown hair that looked so soft that I wanted to touch it. He was wearing a black tux.

After realizing that I had spent more than a second and that everyone was still looking at me a blush rose to my cheeks. I walked over to the beginning of the stairway and started to make my way down. I felt like a princess walking down her stairway to meet her prince charming, the only difference was that she knew who her prince charming was and I didn't. My hand fell onto the railing and it added to the whole royalty affect. Once at the bottom a few men and women let me through to the center of the circle where the mysterious guy was. I strode over to where he was, and put my hand upon his muscular arm to get his attention. Beneath the pads of my fingers I felt the strong arm move from the touch of hand. Before the cold could get to my fingers, my hand was on his chest. I felt a pair of eyes upon my head, I looked up and saw my reflection in pair of azure eyes. My breath left me, seeing those eyes was like seeing a memory that I had forgotten. A strange feeling penetrated my stomach, the same feeling from last night. I placed both hands on his chest as he lowered his head to my ear.

"Gabriella," that was all that the strange man whispered into my ear, his hot breath in my ear. I shivered, his musky voice made my bones melt to the point that I had to grab on to his shirt with both hands to stay vertical. His hands snaked their way onto my hips, my arms immediately went around his neck. The orchestra put their bows onto the strings of their instruments, the music was just about to begin…

_**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**_

"Uggg." _It was all a dream_.I roll over in bed, keeping my eyes shut for as long as I can. I pull the covers back over my head and try to go back to sleep even though the alarm is still going off. I try to convince myself that this too is a dream and that it is not time to get off, soon enough I coax my body back into its resting mode again. My breathing slows down.

I started to see the room that I was just in and the mysterious guy is still in the middle, his face is blurry but I can tell that he is reaching a hand out to me, inviting me to dance with him. I return a nod to him before walking over to where he is located. He once more places his hands on my hips and I place my arms around his neck. He lowers his head so that is a few inches away from mine. I know that he wants to kiss me but be a gentleman at the same time. I stand as tall as I can and look up, trying to get my lips as close as I can to his. He slowly lowers his head more until our lips are millimeters apart. I feel a wet slobbery kiss on my lips and another, and another one on my cheek. I start to get licks everywhere on my face, and I feel fluffy fur against my neck. Abruptly I open my eyes to find a black fuzz ball beside me, still licking me.

"Shadow get off," I tell my precious dog. "I know you love me and I love you to, but I have morning breath and I don't think you want to kiss me with that taste in my mouth," I joke. I start to laugh, Shadow looks up to me and starts to bark. "Okay, okay, you want me to get up, I'll get up, I'll get up." I throw the blankets off of myself, exposing my body to the cold air of the morning. A shiver wracks my body, its cold and I'm wearing a thin silk Victoria Secrets tank top and shorts. I stand up off my bed and stretch, trying to wake myself up from my sleepiness. I trudge over to the bathroom, as I get in I look at myself in the mirror. I have the crusty residue in the corners of my eyes and my hair is all messy. I wipe the residue out of my eyes before going to the bathroom. After washing my hands I took my hair out of the pony tail that I had been in and start brushing it out. I part it down the middle and start to braid each side, creating braided pigtails.

I look at myself one more time before walking out of the bathroom to my closet. My stomach was growling with the anticipation of breakfast, which it was being denied. Before making it to the door of my closet Shadow stopped me by walking in front of me and barking. I bent down to pick her up, hoping that it will subdue her barking for the moment. I bring her up to my eye level and ask her, "Do you want to go on a walk today, do you?" Even though this was a waste of time because I take her on a walk every Sunday, I still asked her. She yips and barks somehow saying in her own language 'YES!'"Well, if you do then you're going to need to let me get dressed." I started off towards my closet again, her still in my arms. I walk through the hallway, humming a song in my head and dancing with Shadow. Once in my closet I grab a floral shirt and a pair of ripped jean shorts from the large array of clothing. The feel of the fabric beneath my finger tips is soft and I hope that they feel soft against my body. I quickly put them on, grab a belt, and put on a pair of sandals. By the time that I was done changing Shadow has already gone to sit by the door. I seized the leash and my cell phone from the kitchen counter, which is where I always leave it after we're done with our walk.

I put the leash onto Shadow's collar and headed out the door. Shadow's claws clicked on the hardwood flooring that was in the hallway, creating an echo. I pressed the button on the wallpaper covered wall for the elevator to come. Above the metal doorway the red numbers above said '3' and I was on level 10. As I was waiting I got a text from Taylor 'how was ur nite? i didnt c u leave. sharpay said that u left w/some hot guy. Hope u had fun caz i did;)' I replied back to her 'was okay. we didnt do anything:( but it was my fault caz it didnt feel rite. hope u were safe last nite –G' That was one thing that Sharpay and I always did, text every morning asking if each other was safe the night before. We also carried around condoms because the girl always gets pregnant when it was spur of the moment and we don't want that to happen. I began to tap my foot waiting for the elevator to show up, apparently there were a bunch of people who wanted to get in and out of the elevator.

Soon enough the elevator came, and my phone vibrated again indicating that I had gotten another text. Shadow and I stepped into the elevator and I pressed the button for level 1. I looked back to my phone it said 'wat happened? Y didnt u keep w/mr hottie? R u sick?' I rolled my eyes at those questions because I had already told her my reason behind not sleeping with Matthew. My fingers rushed against the keyboard texting furiously. I sent her a message stating that I didn't feel like it last night, that I wanted to go home instead, that I am not sick, and that I was going on a walk with Shadow so bye.

My focus then was casted on to the people that were in the elevator with me. There was an old man with grey hair that barely covered the top of his head, but what he lacked on his head he had in his ears. He had glasses, a plaid shirt with blue jeans on and was carrying the New York Times in his left hand and in his right hand he had a cup of coffee. Next to him was his wife, the both of them lived on my level. The wife had on a striped dress and was carrying their little Chihuahua named Gucci, which was ironic because the wife had the dog in a Gucci dog carrier. There was also a little boy with brown hair and green eyes with his mother that had blonde hair that was dyed blonde and blue eyes. The little boy had on a Yankees t-shirt with blue jeans and a pair of sneakers. His mother had on a low cut pink shirt with a short black shirt and a pair of blue high heels on. The mother was scowling while talking on the phone and barking commands at the poor person on the other end of the conversation while the little boy was smiling and looking at Shadow. Shadow went up to the little boy and gave him a little lick on the hand that he had outreached to pet her. The little boy started to pet Shadow and she rolled onto her back to allow him to pet his stomach.

Sadly the elevator ride was over to fast for both the boy and Shadow. Shadow and I left headed out of the door towards the bakery that I had gone to yesterday, they allowed dogs here and great bagels so this is where Shadow and I attended every Sunday morning. We walked inside and went up to the counter. A young man was at the counter when we arrived, he had dark blue eyes and head full of red hair.

"What would you like, miss?" his voice was hard but he seemed nice enough. He had on a blue side apron that hung around his hips.

"Um, I would like a blueberry bagel with light crème cheese and coffee with milk please," I asked politely. He rung up the cost and handed me a bag that had my bagel and crème cheese in it and gave me my coffee. I gave him exact change and left the bakery while trying to juggle the dog, bag and coffee. Once out of the bakery we headed toward Central Park where we would eat the bagel and take a nice walk. The traffic wasn't as heavy as usual but there was some.

Shadow and I quickly walked a few blocks before getting to the park. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and there were few clouds in the sky. Although it was beautiful there was something that felt strange, like there was going to be something happening today that I wasn't expecting. I sat down on the nearest vacant bench and ate my bagel. It was delicious as usual, the blueberries were real not the awful fake berries that are in most bagels. I finished my breakfast and threw it away in the nearest garbage can.

Shadow was restless, she really wanted to go on a walk. We started off walking on the path that went around the pond that was in the park. There were people boating in the pond having a great time with loved ones. I wished that I would have someone to go boating with sometime, but I don't think that I ever will. I could have had someone to go boating with only if I had said yes, but that was a while ago and I don't think that opportunity will happen again. Shadow barked at the pigeons that were close to the pathway that we were on.

Going on walks with my dog was always a way for me to think over what had happened over the past week and what needs to happen for the next week without interruption or comments of others. Somehow I never ran into a person or get ran over by a biker and I believed that Shadow lead me out of harm's way. Shadow was looking out for me as much as I was looking out for her, but this walk she let me run into one of the most dangerous people for me. I walked right into a tall muscular figure with light brown hair in the back that lightly touched the top of his dirty shirt. His pants were covered in dirt and mud. I stumbled back and he turned around. The strange feeling was right today, the man turned around to see who had ran into him. His eyes grew large in shock and the look of recognition flashed across his face. His eyes were cobalt and welcoming. His face was scruffy, as if he hadn't shaved in a few weeks. I was still standing there bewildered of what had happened when he walked up to me and gave me a hug and whispered in my ear "_Gabi._"

* * *

**_How did you like it? Who is the guy that Gabi bumped into?- not like we all dont know ;) well i might change it up a little and have it be someone different that who you think. I'll have the next chapter as soon as i can so like a week or so it just depends on my will to write._**


	3. Chapter 3

His muscular arms were swathed around my petite body, not allowing me to move an inch. His head was by my ear and he was breathing heavily. I had a general idea of who was embracing me but I wasn't completely sure because it could be some random stranger that could be some major criminal. My body was still in shock over the embrace but Shadow wasn't, she was barking and growling at the man. Finally I regained control over my body and my mouth. I turned my head so that my head was facing the side of his head and yelled into his ear "Get off of me!" This shocked the man a little and he jumped away, releasing my body from his grasp. Shadow came back over to me; I bent down and picked her up my eyes never leaving the man. My eyes wandered all of the man's facial features, he had a strong chin and dazzling blue eyes however there was a feature that this person needed. "Who are you?" I asked sharply. He gazed back up at me, his blue eyes gazing into my russet ones.

"Hey Gabriella, that's no way to say hi to an old friend," the man joked, his voice was deep but not too deep. The man that I had thought that this was crossed out from the possible ideas, due to the lack of a small scar that was near his eye on his cheek. I still looked at him with the same expression as before-confused. I glanced over the man that claimed that he knew me. My mind went into over drive at the thought of me knowing him. My thoughts raced through every time that I was a man that was like the man in front of me; my mind searched every crevasse and edge of my brain trying to bring up a man however it failed. I had no memory of a man that had piercing blue eyes, light brown hair that lightly touched his neck and was a tad bit taller than me. I looked at him quizzically, and a frown took the place of the grin that had been plastered on his face. His hand flew to the back of his head, above his neck but it wasn't on the top of his head. "Um, okay maybe it is the way that _you_ say hello to an old friend that you have forgotten about," he joked again.

"I'm sorry but you have must have mistaken me for someone else, because I don't have any memory of you," I simply stated, hoping that the man wouldn't feel too bad or embarrassed about giving me a hug and me yelling at him which grabbed the attention of many on lookers. However the idea of him knowing my name was a little creepy and I was wishing that it was an occurrence that was accidental, considering the number of Gabriella's there were in New York City.

"Maybe the reason why she forgot me is because I got contacts," the mysterious man whispered to himself thinking that only he could hear the comment, but I had overheard it. I looked back over to him and attempted to see him with glasses. The thought of a younger man that looked like him, but at the age of fourteen, popped into my head.

"Excuse me sir, but what is your name exactly?" I asked him, hoping that he would give me the important piece of information that he had forgotten to give before.

"It's Jackson," he replied, hope returned to his eyes as if he thought that a name would help my memory. The memory of the young boy of the age of fourteen was correct and once again in the front of my mind. Along with that memory came many more memories with the young man and me. I walked back up to him, snuck my hands behind his neck, and returned the hug that he had given me before and I had stopped.

"I can't believe you're here," I whispered into his ear, and then I dug my face into his neck. His arms wrapped around my waist and gave me a squeeze. We stood like that for a second before we realized that this would be an odd sight because I had previously yelled at him for doing the same exact thing. I released my arms from around his neck as he unhooked his arms that were around my waist.

I took a few steps back from where I was formerly standing, and studied the man before me, again. Jackson had filled out more since I had last seen him, which had been at least nine years ago, and his dorky glasses were now gone. I once again become conscious that he was wearing dirty old clothes, which didn't seem like him because the Jackson that I knew before always wore clean clothes unlike most of the teenage male population. I then came aware that he smelled, and that I was starting to smell like him because of the hug and being in the same vicinity as him. "Why in the world are you wearing those disgusting and malodorous clothes, Jackson?" I inquired. "You always wore clean clothes before; please don't tell me that you're a hobo. I really don't want to have an old friend be a hobo because that would really hurt the reputation that I have going for me now."

"Way to be sentimental, Gabi," he stated sarcastically, "and no I'm not a hobo."

"Then why in the world would you wear smelly, old clothes?" I replied with my eyebrow arched in a way that showed my puzzlement. "You never wear dirty clothes; remember our freshman year when you refused to wear the same gym clothes two days in a row when all the other guys rarely took their clothes home. I thought that you were going gay on me, which didn't affect me because I had always wanted a gay guy friend."

He looked at me through his long eyelashes and long bangs, a crooked grin swept across his face. "I'm wearing these clothes because I'm incognito."

"What are you hiding from? Did you get into trouble with the police, again, because if it's like the time that you broke old Ms. Abade's window because you didn't know how to handle a paintball gun, I'm turning you in," I said, hoping that my comment about his lack of paintball gun knowledge would make him laugh. However he didn't laugh, he simply gave a look that yelled 'do you really have to bring that up?'

"No, I didn't break someone's window. I'm hiding from the paparazzi that keep stalking me," He whispered the last part into my ear. His hot breath against my earlobe sent shivers down my spine and through the rest of my body.

"Uh, not trying to be mean, but why would paparazzi be stalking _you_? I mean you haven't done much, have you?" I asked.

"Can we take this conversation elsewhere?" he countered. He gave me the crooked smile as to persuade me to go somewhere else than in the middle of the busy Central Park. I nodded quickly because I couldn't speak due to the smile that made my knees wobbly and took away my ability to speak in complete and coherent sentences, just as it did nine years ago when we were friends. "Where's the best place to go around here?" Jackson asked me.

"The best place that I know to go that's close to here is Jennifer's Deli. It has the best sandwiches on this planet and I've been addicted to it ever since I realized that I'm in love with sandwiches," I rambled on due to lack of common sense around him. "It's not far from here actually, only about a tenth of a mile or so. I think that I can see it, look over the pond and across the road and there's a shop that's painted a light yellow."

"Yeah, sure we can go there I really don't care. But before we take off, I have a question," he said. I looked at him, waiting for the question that he had told me that he wanted to ask. "Are we taking Shadow with us to the deli?"

"Uh, no I guess that would be a bad idea considering most food places don't allow dogs. I'll run home quickly and drop her off and you can meet me down there if you want to. Unless you would want to come with me," I said hoping he would get the hint that I wanted to spend more time with him during a walk to my house and so that I could show him my apartment which would demonstrate how successful that I have become. The silence in the air hung thick between us, I waited for his decision to cut through it so that we could continue on with normal conversation.

"Uh, sure I can go meet you at the deli. But please be quick 'cause I don't like beginning all alone here in NYC," he responded. Slowly rejection coursed through my body, starting at my little toe and making its way to my brain. A frown was etched upon my lips as soon as the rejection reached my face. I quickly caught myself and tried to erase the frown before Jackson could see, but however my effort was futile.

"Um, ok. I guess I'll see you there", I stated my voice a little more quiet than before. I turned around and started walking off in the other direction. 'Please say it, please say it come on Jackson you know what to say…'that thought was implanted in my mind as I leisurely walked away.

"You know I could always come with you. I mean I would love to see your apartment and the neighborhood that you live in," Jackson recovered. I gave him a small smile for reassurance that he did the correct thing.

"That'd be nice and hurry up I don't want to take too long," I said. He quickly caught up with me, his step was almost in sync with mine but they were just a nanosecond off. The silence surrounded us again and it wasn't the comfortable silence that is described so well in books and movies, no it was the irritating silence that makes you want to scream because it's quiet between you and the other person. I just couldn't take the quiet anymore, "So… what have you been up to in L.A. since I've left?"

"Nothing much, I went to UCLA and am now a student at Julliard. Mom and Dad are doing well, and so is Meg. She's actually attending NYU at the moment; I think she's majoring in business. Life got really boring after you moved to Albuquerque, the only thing was that Amber and I hooked up." Jackson looked over to me and our eyes caught each other, I took a moment to study his eyes in depth. They weren't the same as before.

"Did you get colored contacts?" I asked out of nowhere.

"Yeah, did you just now notice that they're blue instead of brown? Wow Gabi, what has New York done to you," he teased. "You didn't hear a thing I said did you?"

"Why did you change your eye color? They were pretty before, they were so dark that you almost couldn't see your pupil. Remember when Amber and I used to tease you about how your eyes made us think you were emotionless," giggles erupted out of my lips at the thought of Amber, Jackson and I as little kids. Trying to stop my giggles I attempted to create words, "I was too listening," came out like "I to tening."

"You weren't," he sighed. "What I said was that I'm still in college, Meg's in college, Amber and I hooked up after you left, and my parents are doing fine."

"YOU AND AMBER HOOKED UP!" I exclaimed. The idea of my two best friends from L.A. hooking up boggled me, I had always expected it to happen but now that it had it shocked me.

"Yes, and then we broke up." He replied in a monotone voice. I looked over to him because they probably weren't friends now and before they were the closest of close, and gave him a sympathetic smile. During our emails that we had sent to each other over the time since the separation of us he had never told me of his hook up with Amber. Our conversation went on about college and what we each have been up to since the last time that we had seen each other; however it at times the air was thick between us. This was extremely odd do to the fact that we had been the closest of friends back when I had lived in L.A. I figured that it was just that time had aged and changed Jackson, not me. Before we knew it, we were in front of my apartment building.

I glanced over my shoulder at him, "This is it." My footsteps echoed in the large lobby that we were walking through. Jackson was quiet the entire time that we were in elevator and hallway; he only spoke once in the room.

"Wow, this apartment is—well it's very nice." That was all he mumbled while I giving Shadow a drink and leading her to her cage, which was actually a room that was painted a light purple and had hardwood floors for easy cleaning of accidents. She had a Chanel dog bed with her name monogrammed on the side, and a small buffet of different food selections for her liking. It was better that what most all persons in a third world country have in their entire life.

I quickly grabbed one of my Gucci bags, my wallet and headed towards where Jackson was. He was opening the door, I walked through and muttered "thanks."

We were waiting for the elevator when I realized that I could ask why the paparazzi were following him because there was nobody around to hear and soon we would be in the confinement of the elevator. "Jackson, why are the paparazzi following you? I mean honestly you aren't that important," I stated sarcastically.

His eyebrow rose in shock that I remembered to ask him. He glanced around the hallway before bursting out into laughter. That got me angry, "Ok, seriously, stop the laughing you ass. Why are you fucking laughing at me? Did I say something that stupid?"

"Haven't seen any new movies have you? Or watched E! News or read any of the crappy magazines that grocery stores have at the checkout line? Honestly, where's the Gabi that I knew? She read those magazines like they were the bible and watched E! News like it was Headline news," Jackson mocked.

"I'm still the same Gabi, and I haven't had the time to do any of those things. Owner of a booming boutique and high ranking employee of EcoGenerals Co ring a bell?"

"Oh yeah, my little Gabriella got a life. Well, so did I, and you're looking at the actor slash singer of the new remake of High School Musical!" My jaw dropped, really remaking a movie that wasn't even ten years old was absurd. Me being my eco-freak I thought of all of the valuable resources that were being used up and how much money could have been donated to helping the sea turtles and bats of the world. Jackson's smile contracted back to a straight line. I quickly recomposed myself and put a big smile on my lips.

"That's amazing Jackson! Ohmygod I know a movie star!" You could tell that the voice was fake but Jackson welcomed the fake, after all he was an actor. "We must go out for ice cream as well." I figured that those statements would cover for the previous moments before this. This conversation had started out in hallway on the same floor as my apartment and had lasted until we were on the street besides the building. As we soon as we had started walking and talking about the movie had paparazzi started to move in. At first we didn't really notice the one or two people that were at a distance from us. But then it was like ants to a picnic, the first few are tolerable but then they start to come in mobs and it's a swarm. There were flashes of cameras and yells from the crowd asking Jackson about the movie and "his" mysterious girl that was with him. The tumult of the crowd was starting to get to me, and we had already been trying to get out of it since it started. I leaned over to Jackson's ear as we were fighting our way out of a losing battle, "I really need to get out of here." That lit the fire under his butt, he really started to fight the crowd and soon we were out and making a run for it.

"You go left, I'll go right. I'll meet you at Broadway." That was all that he said to me before running across the street and into a store. I, on the other hand, ran another three blocks before running down into a subway station.

I got into the line to buy a ticket and got onto the train. I glanced over all of the people in the car. There were the usual men and women in various colors of suits, women and their children, and a few others. There was one person that seemed out of place in this subway car. His sandy color hair was oily and uncombed. He was wearing tattered clothing that had assortment of holes and stains. He also smelled a little funny. _Great, another random hobo that I come in contact to and have some strange feeling about. Who could this one be?_ I thought to myself. The voice over the intercom on the subway said that we were almost to Broadway. I was thinking that this would be the stop that I get off so I let my mind wonder and m purse swing back and forth on my arm. The train slowly went to a stop and jolted us when it completely stopped. I was close to the door of the car, and quickly got out. Apparently my purse had another idea; it was stuck on the seat that I had been standing by. Everyone filed around me, all except the strange smelling mysterious hobo.

"Need some help miss?" the man said in a friendly voice. I nodded furiously. He calmly unwound the loose string that was stuck to the zipper of my purse, I stood back and watched him as he was bent over the bag. Due to the amount of time that it took to get my bag loose the doors to the train closed abruptly.

He handed me back my purse, but never looked me in the eye. "Thanks for that and I'm sorry for making you miss the station," I said in the nicest voice I could produce.

"It's no problem miss," he said.

"I do have a name sir, and it's not Miss, its Gabriella,"

"I used to know a girl named Gabriella," he thought out loud. "I also have a name, Gabriella, mines Troy."

"Huh, I used to know a boy named Troy," I laughed. The overcome said that their next stop was coming up soon. "Hopefully we can escape the train this time and not have my bag get in the way," I joked. He laughed, his laugh was whole and not one of those shallow laughs you often hear in New York.

"Maybe, if I'm lucky. I don't know if I could stay in the same car as you again," he joked.

"Back at you Troy." The doors opened and we both left. "Well it was nice meeting you Troy," my hand was in the air waiting for his hand for a goodbye shake. He placed his hand in mine. Electric shocks pulsed through me at the touch of his skin.

"It was nice to meet you as well Miss Gabriella," he raised his head and looked into my eyes. This time I knew the guy that's eyes were full of recognition.

"Troy," I breathed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello readers, it's me! I just wanted to say Happy Halloween! This is my treat to you, and hopefully you'll treat me back with reviews:) Loved all the reviews from last chapter, keep them coming!**

*** **BLAST FROM THE PAST CHAPTER:** _"It was nice to meet you as well Miss Gabriella," he raised his head and looked into my eyes. This time I knew the guy that's eyes were full of recognition._

"_Troy," I breathed_*******

My hand dropped from his, and returned to my side immediately. My eyes doubled in size and so did the pace of my heart. "How- Why- When?" those were the only words that my mouth and vocal cords could form.

"You live here," at least he could create words. Since I was still in shock I could only move my head slowly up and down. "How long?"

"Two years. How long for you?"

He stood there for a minute before responding, "Three and a half." I couldn't stand the tension that was laced in the conversation. I decided to act boldly; I covered the space between us in two steps and gave him hug. He wrapped his arms me and buried his head in the waves and curls of my hair. My face was against his hard pectorals, and the world was back where it had been five years ago. The stench finally got to me and I had to pull away from him. But I was still partially in his arms because they were on my arms, as were mine on his.

"Ugh, you smell." All did was laugh at the statement which was completely evident to anyone around him.

"Thank you Captain Obvious for your amazing observation," he joked. He dropped his hands from my arms and took a step backwards away from me.

"Oh, it was my honor Lieutenant Sarcasm. Now, where are you stationed at so that we may get you in ship shape?" I said, trying to continue on with the banter that was based on military terms.

The question made him back up completely from me so that we were standing a good 4 feet away from each other. He dropped his eyes so that my eyes no longer contact with his, along with his eyes his head dropped and his body got stiff. The silence was thick around us. He took a good minute before lifting his head back up and turning it so that he was looking away from me before responding, "There is no station. It's been deactivated."

The news sunk into me like a rock in a pond. The rock hit the soft muddy floor as the news hit the pit of my stomach. The idea of Troy without a home to go to each night made my heart heavy because even though we had broken up over five years ago I still felt as if I had some attachment to him. I placed my arm on his shoulder and gave it a little squeeze, trying to give him a little support. The thought of letting him into my apartment to stat for a while crossed my mind, but then I thought against it because we hadn't seen each other in five years and we weren't the same person as we once were. I also didn't trust myself around him quiet yet either because thoughts of him had been passing through my head more frequently than other, probably due to the fact that I hadn't dated someone seriously since him and felt alone. Another thought passed through my mind, "Are you staying anywhere?" I asked causelessly.

He shook his head 'no' to my question. I thought about all of the hotels that I knew that were sort of cheap. Then I thought that he was my high school sweetheart at one point and deserved better than cheep, he deserved moderately good considering that he was the one that dumped me and I still held it against him. "Come with me," I said as I began to walk away from the place that we had been standing.

"Where exactly are we going?" he inquired as he followed me like a little lost puppy through all of the chaos of the subway station around us. I ignored his comment until we were above ground and in the light of the sun.

"We're going to my apartment so that I may find a hotel for you to stay at," I replied. My mind kept going back to the subway, from the subway to how I had gotten there, and from the reason to Jackson. "Shit," I mumbled after thinking about how I had just left Jackson and hadn't called to inform him where I was and where he was. We still had plans to go out for lunch, and my stomach was yelling at me for forgetting.

"What?" Troy asked, I looked up from the street where my eyes had apparently gone.

"Oh, I forgot about how I had gotten on the subway and how I forgot to inform a friend where I had gone. Actually I should probably call them, if it's okay with you." He shook his head and started to look at the buildings as we passed by them to get to my apartment. I grabbed my phone from my bag and called Jackson.

He answered after the first ring, "Hello? Gabi is this you?"

"Hey, Jackson. Yeah, it's Gabi. I was wondering where you were, I got off at a different station than what I had said. You see my purse got caught on the seat and then I ran into an old friend on the subway car," I was about to keep rambling on but Jackson stopped me.

"It's fine Gabi. Just tell me where you are and I'll get a taxi to come get you. Then we can go out for lunch like we had planned and we can talk some more."

"That's all fine and dandy Jackson, but I now have the old friend still with me and I feel that it would be bad if I just left him. Plus I said that I'd help him get a hotel room." Silence then came over the other side of the conversation. "Aloha, Jackson?" I joked.

"Would your friend like to join us? And might I ask who it is?" Jackson asked.

"It's Troy. I ran into Troy on the subway car. Let me ask him if he wants to go," I looked back over to Troy. His hands were lazily in his pockets, his torso was slightly bent forward, and his head was bowed down. "Troy," I whispered.

"Yeah," he replied. He had heard the entire conversation, it seemed to bother me for some unknown reason.

"Would you like to go to lunch with Jackson and me?"

"No. I've already probably taken up too much of your time anyways. I'll just leave and go back to riding subways," he then turned around and started to walk in the other direction.

I quickly put the phone back on my ear and told Jackson that I would have to call him back later. "Troy!" I yelled as I ran after him down the sidewalk. He glanced back over at me. "Let me at least give you the number for the hotel that you are going to stay at," he started to open his mouth to deny the help that I was going to give him. "No, and I repeat _**NO**_ ifs, ands, or buts about it." I took a pen out of my bag and wrote down the number of the hotel and its address on his hand. I gave him some money to be able to call the hotel and buy some food. "Just mention the Montez sent you and everything will be taken care of. I hope that we run back into each other again sometime soon."

"Yeah I hope we do as well, and thanks," he said back to me before, once again, walking off in the other direction.

"You're welcome!" I said after he left, yelling as loud as I needed to be able to have my voice reach his. Grabbing my phone again, I dialed Jackson's number again. He picked up quickly again, before he could say anything I spoke up, "Jackson, come to my apartment, we can go out to lunch when you get here. Troy's not coming." He said a quick yeah, okay and hung up.

This morning had gotten my mind all jumbled up with memories of my past that I had tried so hard to forget. Damn those two men that had to come back into my life and mess my mind up. _Gabriella, Troy was always here so you can't really blame him_ my mind told me.

As if my brain was attempting to piss me off even more memories from high school of Troy and I reappeared in front and center of my thoughts. I attempted to keep focused on where I was going and not what I was thinking. However my walking was not a task that required a lot on mind focus, so I let my memories overtake me. _I was sitting on the roof of my house looking up at the sky. The wind was brushing against my face, giving me chills. It was the middle of July the summer before I started East High, and I was scared shitless. The idea of starting high school had always seemed a little scary and intimidating, but starting high school without any of your friends there at a place that was over 700 miles away from home. Tears started to escape the confines of my eyes. Sobs slowly came to my body and started to shake it._

_"Hey," a voice was coming from below where I was. I stood up and went over to the side of the roof. I was wiping tears away as I walked. "So, you are the mysterious girl."_

_"Yeah, I guess you could say that," I hadn't been out of the house the past two weeks because I had been decorating my room and unpacking my clothing. "Might I ask who are you?"_

_"My name's Troy Bolton. I live next door from you," he said pointing over to the house that was to the right of mine. "I heard someone crying and my mom always told me that I should never let a person cry without a shoulder to cry on, so I came over."_

_"Oh, okay. Um would you like to come up?" I asked hoping he would. I tilted my head over to a tree that was right next to the house. I wanted to have at least one new friend before starting the terror called high school and he seemed to be alright to befriend. I backed up and sat back down to where I was sitting before he started to talk to me._

_"Sure," he strolled over to the tree and gracefully made his way up the tree as if he had done it a thousand times before hand. "So, what's your name?" he asked as he walked over to where I was now sitting._

_"It's Gabriella. Have you climbed up here before?" I took part of my hair in my hand and started to comb my fingers through it as I always did when I was nervous which I was due to the fact that there was a really good looking guy that was sitting right next to me_

_"Yeah, I have. Many of times actually, my best friend used to live here. Now he's moved to New Jersey and may not be back to visit in a long time," Troy stated sadly._

_"I moved from L.A." I blurted out. My face got red from the embarrassment of the thought that I had just said. My hands quickly came up to my face to, hopefully, cover my face._

_"Well, that's cool. I always wanted to go see the L.A. Lakers play," Troy said, not caring that I had thought that I embarrassed myself. _

_The conversation between us continued on for a good fifteen more minutes before I heard my mom start to call for me. I quickly told him sorry that I had to go back inside and for him to quickly leave so that my mom wouldn't see him._

Bam! I was back in reality, and walking into my apartment room. I sat down on a chair in my living room, thinking still in my head about everything that had happened today. All that came to mind was: 1.) where the hell was Jackson, and 2.) why did Troy act so oddly. I made a plan in my head to visit him tomorrow at the hotel that I had sent him to.

The text message ringtone on my phone started going off. I looked down and saw that Jackson had texted me. 'im almost the apt. building. be there in 5.' There's where Jackson was. I texted him back okay and to tell me when he was here. I then took the time to text Sharpay and Taylor that we needed to meet up tomorrow during lunch hour because I had some things to tell them. Prior to them texting back, Jackson said that he was there and that I should go down stair to meet him. I put on my shoes that I had taken off, grabbed my bag, and went down to Jackson who was waiting outside of the taxi for me.

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**Hope you liked it 'cause I liked typing it! Plan on getting next chapter out within three weeks. Fingers crossed X. Tell me what you liked or disliked, both equally welcomed.**

**3,**

**Kai**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hello everyone! See I kept my promise of posting within 3 weeks! Okay so it is on the last day possible but still I have some very good reasons for not updating: friends issues, boy issues, sickness, conditioning for softball beginning, sleep, family, school work(got to keep those A's) and life in general... enough of me giving out excuses, I'm lazy when it comes to writing and I know it, and so does my grade. And on with the show...**_

_**Disclaimer: dont own anything, wish but dont.**_

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**back to the previous chapter***

_Prior to them texting back, Jackson said that he was there and that I should go down stair to meet him. I put on my shoes that I had taken off, grabbed my bag, and went down to Jackson who was waiting outside of the taxi for me._

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The doors to my apartment building swung close behind me as I walked to where Jackson was standing. He opened the door for me; I scooted in and across the back seat so that he may sit next to me and not have to go around to the other side of the taxi. I stared in front of me as he got situated in his seat. Jackson finally got himself fully in the taxi; he got up so that he could talk to the taxi driver in the front to go to the Yorkville Creperie. I really didn't care where we went I just had a question for him that I wanted answered. Once he was seated and not moving I turned towards him and asked, "How did you feel when I didn't hug you back this morning?"

He kept his head forward, a look of deep thought rolled onto his face and stayed there for a good minute and a half before he responded, "At first, when I hugged you and you were in shock, I was thrilled and astonished to see you again. Then when you pretty much went off on me for being some creeper, I was disappointed in you for not remembering me then I thought that maybe you were just some look-a-like that happened to have the same name. Finally when you recognized me I was ecstatic that I had found you and that you then remembered me. Why do you ask?"

Memories of seeing Troy whipped back at me. At least he remembered me right away, and he gave me the type of hug that he used to give me. "Oh, it's nothing. I just wanted to know, because I felt bad about not remembering you," I quickly covered up. For some reason I didn't want to give him the real reasoning behind the question. For now I wanted just for it to be in _my _head until tomorrow when Taylor and Sharpay would be around to help me decode my thoughts.

"Okay then." We were quiet the rest of the way to the restaurant. The taxi driver put on some old music to make the silence not so silent. I watched as the buildings passed by us. I also paid attention to all of the men that were wearing the same type of clothing that Troy had, seeing if one of them really was Troy. Sadly, however, all of the men that I had hoped to be Troy weren't. I didn't know why my mind was acting like it had over five years ago, and I didn't like it.

The taxi finally got to the restaurant. I got out of the car and stood there while Jackson paid the driver. Once standing, he put out his arm for me to grab onto, which I did. We quickly got a table and sat down. I grabbed the menu that was placed on the table in front of me and started to look over it. I decided on a Panini. "So, why did you get the colored contacts?" I questioned, once more it was me that noticed and broke the silence that was between us.

"Apparently they wouldn't change the color of the main character's eyes so I had to switch to blue. I've gotten use to putting them in each day so I do. Plus they make me look even sexier than usual," he joked.

I gave him the 'you've got to be kidding me' look, and then said, "Wow, my mind must be doing tricks on me because I thought you looked way cuter as a teenager than now. Hmm, how the mind does these things."

The waitress came over smiling at us, she consistently looking over at me throughout the entire time she was here, and took our order before leaving. "Was it me or was she looking at _you _more than _me_? And please tell me that it was just me 'cause I don't think that I could stand the idea of you being more delectable than me. I mean honestly I'm the movie star here," Jackson whispered when the waitress left. I started to giggle.

"Well if you were sexy and can't get attention from a straight girl, and I can make a possible lesbian look at me the entire time while ordering then I am a hundred thousand times sexier than you'll ever be," I teased. He mimicked a gun shooting himself in the heart and gave a dramatic dying scene from the comment. I quickly added, "No wonder you're an actor, you're way too dramatic for anything normal."

He then grabbed his chest again, "If you keep shooting me down soon you'll have nothing more to shoot at. My ego isn't never ending, it does run out at some point," he stated.

"Mmhmm, sure your ego has an ending point," I stated sarcastically. "I'll believe that when I see it."

The rest of lunch went on flawlessly. Jackson hadn't changed much from the last time that I had a decent conversation with him, nine years ago; the major thing that had changed was his maturity level. He seemed to be a lot more adult like than what he had been, but then again that was the difference between a fourteen year old boy and a twenty-three year old man. We continuously flirted throughout the meal, though he might be more grown-up he still kept flirting as he did those nine years ago. I might be bringing up the difference between now and nine years ago but that is what I noticed the most because that is the only thing to compare our last conversation to and it was our last time together.

Soon the meal was over and we were walking out of the restaurant. Our paces were in sync with each other. "So, that was a good meal. Don't you think?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah, it was pretty good. Where are we going?" I replied to him. He motioned his head towards a small park that held a few things of playground equipment. The colors that had once boasted bright blues, yellows, oranges, red, and purples now looked like they belonged with a creepy run-down circus. There was graffiti that proclaimed many words not needed to be known to small children and pictures that belonged more to health class books or in a magazine that is delivered in a brown paper bag. I put my bag on one of the many benches as Jackson led me over to a swing that had profanities etched into the seat. I sat down, and he pushed me until I was swinging very high. I leaned back and let my ringlets fly as I was.

"You look like a little girl when you do that," Jackson laughed. He too was on a swing; he was still working to get to my height.

"Yeah, well you look like an annoying friend from my perspective," I teased, I then managed to stick my tongue at him. Jackson quickly jumped off his swing and went in front of my swing. He stuck out his arms as if he was going to try to catch me, and gave me a look that dared to jump. I took his dare and leaped out of seat of the swing and into the air. I was "flying" for a split second, and then I was falling. I fell straight into the arms that had been perfectly placed. Jackson lost his balance and once again I was falling, but this time I was falling with Jackson. We landed in a thud on the ground. I looked at him and started we both started to laugh.

"I can't believe you actually jumped!" Jackson somehow managed to get the out between laughs.

"It looked like you wanted me to," I responded. Our laughter had died down. I was regaining my breath, as was Jackson.

"Okay, I did, but I didn't think that you would actually would."

I was now sitting up straight. I looked over at him and cocked my head, "Of course I would have." I gave him a little smirk, and tried to return to my standing position. However my efforts were short lived since Jackson thought that it would be a grand idea to trip me and send myself back to the sitting position that I once had been. "What was that for?"

"I didn't want you get up quite yet," he smirked. His eyes looked like they were up to something mischievous. He was sitting up right now; his hand was playing a piece of grass that was sticking up from the ground diverting my eyes from his face to his hands.

"Why ever not?" I retorted.

"Because I wanted to do this," he scooted over to where I was sitting. He pushed a piece of hair from my face in the total trite 'I'm going to kiss you now' sense. Thoughts from back in middle school when so many times I had wanted this moment to happen but never did came rushing into my mind as he stopped before he kissed me asking for permission. I never reacted to this because I was too busy over analyzing in my mind. He brushed his lips against mine. They were very soft, as if he applied Chap Stick ever so often. His tongue glided across my closed lips asking for allowance into my mouth, almost like a gentleman asking a lady for a dance his tongue was asking my tongue for a dance. I took the gentleman's hand. My lips opened, his tongue darted in and started its duet with mine.

We stayed kissing for only a minute before my brain came back to my head and common sense returned. I broke off the kiss. I looked at Jackson for a moment, his eyes were still closed and lips almost in the same position they once were. I quickly stood up and spoke to Jackson, "I should probably get going. Shadow probably misses me and I have to do laundry plus getting some groceries. I loved lunch and this little outing."

The reaction that I got from him was a quick nod of his head. I dusted off some dirt and grass that had stuck to my shirt. I seized my bag and took off towards the street. I called over a taxi and told him the address to my apartment building. My conscience was now evaluating the escapade that just occurred. I mean I had liked him a lot when I was younger, why shouldn't I know one side of my thoughts asked. Because you still like Troy and the boy's back, the other side countered. STOP! The sensible part of my brain yelled.

Then my mind started to scrutinize the kiss that I had shared with Jackson. I liked the kiss but it wasn't mind blowing, if anything it was a dying sparkler compared to some of my other kisses. Hey, it was at least something. The taxi was then in front of my building somehow because it had only been a few minutes in the car, I think. I handed over the money that I owed the man and exited the vehicle. I ran upstairs and entered my room where I then took off my shoes and leapt into my large comfortable bed. Shadow followed me. She was curled up next to me in a little ball. I shook my head and tried to get ever thought that was racing through my head out. It didn't work.

I laid there for another ten minutes before realizing I had to sort the laundry. It was a tedious chore to accomplish but a necessary one. My mind wandered to tomorrow and what might happen then. Before my thoughts went to Troy my piles were done and already in the washer. I laid back down on my bed and set my alarm for an hour and a half to switch the load from the washer to the drier and then put a new load in. I swiftly fell into a good sleep.

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**How'd you like it? Good? Bad? Indifferent? My new found quote (based off of Elie Weisel) indifference to writing is evil. Now review:)**

**hope to have next chapter up within a few weeks (hopefully within 2 or 3) mostly depending on how family wants to cooperate this next week and following days.**

**Luv you always,**

**~Kai~**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ahaha! updated before tomorrow, at least where I am!**

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***Hello everybody! See I can update before I say I can! If anyone hasn't seen my profile lately go check it out because I now have a banner for this story and the link is on my profile. I hope you enjoy the chapter because I didn't really but the next few chapters will be fun to write because the real story will be taking off and the drama will be juicer and the plots deeper***

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Disclaimer: I don't own anything; wish I did so there would be amazing presents for everyone (including readers) but no…

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I woke up to the silence of my apartment, besides the outside world there was no other sound besides Shadow and I's breathing. Most mornings this never affected me, actually I was quite content with the welcoming quietness. However, this morning I woke up alone and saddened. I missed having someone there in my life. It has been too long, I thought to myself.

I shook off the feeling and headed off to the bathroom to get ready for the events that were about to occur today. I straightened my hair, which took forever due to the fact that my hair was naturally a curly, wavy mess that didn't want to be contained.

Thoughts about yesterday started to slither into my mind. The thought of Jackson's tongue actually in my mouth was a little revolting, and I had almost started to gag. I mean, I like Jackson but just not in that way anymore. I thought that Jackson knew that as well, that we were entirely platonic. He must have thought that yesterday was like a date and that it was 'fate' that brought us back together. I shouldn't have allowed it, I just missed male contact and he was there. I really shouldn't have allowed it now he probably thinks I like him. It was all whirling around in my mind as the straitening iron passed over the curly locks of my hair.

I walked over to my closet and grabbed an orange tank top that was paisley, a white skirt (thank you for not being that time of the month), and a pair of black flip flops. I went back into the bathroom and put a few strokes of mascara on and a little foundation. I glided over to my kitchen where I got a blueberry muffin and started to devour it. I looked over to the clock which read 9:53am. After finishing my muffin, I grabbed my white Mac notebook and checked my email. Even though I had called to the office and told them I was taking a personal day I wanted to do some work. People had always ridiculed me for finishing homework or getting started on it when there would be 5 minutes of class left and everyone would get up and talk. I thought that if you had extra time in school then you should be finishing school work instead of involving yourself in mindless gossip. And so that had type of mind set followed me into the working world.

After I had finished my work, I unconsciously got up and went to bookcase where I had kept my year books from elementary school through high school. I grabbed my senior year book. I flipped it open to the back where I had gotten many signatures of fellow classmates and friends. There was one from Taylor, Sharpay, Troy, Ryan, and many others that I had enjoyed my high school experience with. My eyes landed on Troy's first. His handwriting was precise and small, but I had received a million letters in this handwriting. He had wrote "I love you, forever and always 3". A memory from the day he wrote this came back to me.

_The entire senior class was sitting on metal fold out chairs on the grass of the lawns of East High. Each of the speakers was having their turn on giving us all motivating speeches about how we were the future, going to college is good, and that we were to make something of ourselves. My mind wasn't with the speakers; it was with the brunette boy sitting ten rows ahead of me. I could see his shaggy hair touching the collar of his graduation gown. How many times I had played with that bit of hair I would never know, and it was always the same length. The time seemed like it dragged on forever, all I wanted to do was go to the man who stole my heart and kiss him senseless. But I behaved like a good-girl and clapped when needed and added a few laughs when necessary._

_Next thing I knew we were throwing our hats into the air as so many before us had done. I ran over to where Troy was standing, I jumped up on his back and asked if he knew who it was. He had asked if it was Monica._

"_Really, Monica, which one?" I asked him. Wondering what his response would be._

"_Oh, you know. Monica Bing, my secret lover," he told me. I started to giggle._

"_So you're meeting up with an imaginary Friends character behind my back," I teased._

"_Oh, it's you. Never mind what I said," he then turned around, placed his hands on both of my cheeks and kissed me. It was a short lived kiss because our parents were walking over to where we were with cameras. We posed for pictures and took our time to remember everything. My mother handed me my year book for Troy to sign it. He took out a Sharpie pen and wrote it down quickly, and then he shut the book and gave it back to me. "Don't read my message until your home in your room." I just nodded and went back to the embraces of friends and family._

My fingertips were skimming across the message that he left. I kept thinking about how happy I had been at that time in life, and how sad I would become in the next few months.

My phone started to go off; I quickly grabbed it from the end table that it was perched on. I had set an alarm to notify me that I should start going if I wanted to make it in time for lunch with Sharpay and Taylor, and God knows how much I needed their thoughts at this moment in time. I quickly snatched my bag from the back of one of the dining room chairs and ran out of the room.

My flip flops made noise against the cement sidewalk below be, which was getting in the way of my mind trying to make a list of everything that I needed to tell Taylor and Sharpay. 1) Jackson's back, 2) I went to lunch with Jackson, 3) He kissed me, and 4) I met Troy in a subway and after lunch I'm going to go meet him. How they were going to respond to the last two was going to be surprised and probably they'll be extremely loud.

I walked into the restaurant and told the maitre d' the name in which our party was called. I walked over to the table where Sharpay and Taylor were sitting, talking, and drinking their herbal tea. I pulled out a chair and sat down which made them look over towards me.

"Hi Gabi," Taylor cheerfully said.

Sharpay blunter with her welcome, "So, why did you make us come here?"

"We'll I have four things to tell you. Please no interruptions while I state the four events that have happened within the past twenty-four hours. One, I found Jackson while taking Shadow on a walk yesterday. Two, we went out for lunch yesterday to catch up, well at least that's what I thought that we were doing. Three, he kissed me when we were at a park after lunch," Their eyes and ears perked up at this and it looked as if they wanted to say something but I continued on. "Usually this wouldn't have affected me as much as it did, and the reason is number four. I saw and talked to Troy yesterday. I'm done with the list." I had used my fingers to show the number that I was talking about, but since I was done they were now tapping on the table.

"Oh, my God!" the both of them said in unison. Sharpay went on, "Why the hell didn't you call us earlier? I mean this is serious shit!"

"I didn't want to bother you two and I thought that it wouldn't really matter if this waited a day to tell you. Plus I needed some time to think all this over," I replied in a calm manner.

"So, what are you going to do about everything?" said the more sensible Taylor. I looked over at her. She had her cup of tea to her lips and had a look of concern etched all over her face.

I ran my hand through m hair as I replied, "I have no clue."

"Well I think that you should tell Jackson that he needs to keep his hands off of you no matter how much his dick is thinking for him. I also think that you need to talk to Troy, and soon 'cause who knows the next time that you'll see him again," Sharpay added.

"I'm going to see Troy after I'm done here with you two," I said in a small voice, hoping that they might see how scared I really was of seeing him again and how I might act around him. I lowered my eyes away from them and started to fiddle with my thumbs that were now in my lap.

"That's good," Taylor said. "I mean doing this might help you figure out if there might be a future to you and Troy, plus you'll see if Troy is really the reason why you don't want a relationship with Jackson." I looked up at her and gave her the 'how the hell did you know that' look. "I'm one of your best friends, so that means that I know what goes on in that pretty little head of yours."

"It's good that at least one person does," I joked. "But back onto the whole Jackson thing what should I do? Help me! Since you only know vague details here's a synopsis of my story, Jackson and I literally ran into each other yesterday and then I asked if he wanted to eat lunch and he said that he did. We got chased by some paparazzi after we dropped Shadow off at home and before we got to the deli that we were going to eat lunch. I ended up in a subway, my purse got stuck on the seat, Troy, and by the way I didn't know that it was Troy at this time, he helped me get my purse off the seat but the subway doors had closed before we could exit. Then we got off at the next stop, and that's when we realized who each other were, I got him a hotel to stay at since he didn't have anywhere to go. I walked back to my apartment building where Jackson came and picked me up in a taxi. We went out to lunch at some restaurant he picked out; afterwards we went on a walk to a park where he pushed me on a swing until I jumped into his arms from the swing and we fell to the ground. He then kissed me, and I had no clue what to do so I kissed him back. I soon came back to reality and stopped the kiss, got a taxi to my home and did laundry for the rest of the night," I put most all of the sentences together and only took a breath or two during the entire time. Sharpay and Taylor were just staring at me.

"Question time!" Sharpay sang, trying to make the situation a little lighter than what I truly was. "Okay, me first. Why were paparazzi chasing you two?"

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that Jackson is now some big movie star, he plays the main role in the new High School Musical," I said in a monotone voice trying to show that it didn't impress me at all. Sharpay shook her head saying that she understood which she did because she and Taylor really did know me better than anyone else, including me.

"I guess that means it's my turn," Taylor said, "What was it like seeing him after five years?"

"Uh, good question. I'm still trying to figure that one out and that's why I'm here with you two. But if I were to say what it was like now, I guess that I would say it was nice," I replied. The waiter came over to us and took our orders for our lunches and my drink order. After he left the interrogation began again.

Sharpay once again started the questioning, "You said that he didn't have a place to go," I shook my head yes, "So does that mean that he's homeless?"

I opened my mouth to respond but words didn't come out. Then my mind rolled back to when I was in the car with Matthew and when I saw the homeless man on the side of the road. I tried to remember what he looked like and if there was any similarity to Troy, there was. "Holy shit that _was_ him!" I exclaimed.

Taylor and Sharpay gave me a confused look. "Who was who?" Taylor asked.

I snapped back to reality and replied, "Remember when we went clubbing?" they shook their heads, "Well there was this man on the side of the road when Matthew and I were at a stop light. I had thought that I had seen him before, but I didn't know of anybody that I knew that was homeless. And I just realized that the man that I saw resembled Troy."

"Oh," stated Sharpay. "Where does this leave you in the whole Troy dilemma? I mean you, like, could kiss him and see which kiss you like better."

Taylor and I gave her look that shot daggers into her. Taylor spoke up, "Seriously Sharpay? She just re-met the man and already you're sending her to pretty much jump him? We're talking about two entirely different men from two entirely different backgrounds. One she hasn't seen in nine years and the other five years, and you expect her to be acting_** frivolous**_ about everything?" she scolded.

"Taylor, it's okay. I'm a big girl now and I decide what I should do now," the words came out very calmly and slowly with a small pause between most all the words. "And Sharpay do you really think that I'm going to go up to Troy this afternoon and make out with him? I don't even know what I am going to say to him!" the idea of all of this went to my head making my hands go to my hair. At that moment the food arrived and the conversation stopped as well. We all thanked the waiter, and he left. We started to eat our meal and didn't say a word until the empty plates were being picked up and our bills given to us.

"How about you employ him at Hoes & Bows (Our boutique)," that was the most logical thing that Sharpay had said since the beginning of this meeting. "If I remember right, he was good with number in high school and since our cashier just quit and we need a new one how about him?"

"That's brilliant!" I tossed enough money on the table to pay for my meal and a decent tip and left to go to the hotel where Troy was staying. The new idea of him working at Hoes and Bows that it made me want to see him that much sooner. The hotel was only a few blocks from the restaurant we were at so I easily walked there.

The entrance of the hotel wasn't anything over the top or too fancy, but it was homey and welcoming. I gave the lad at the front desk my name and asked her where the hotel room that was under it was. She quickly gave me the room number and an extra key. The room was on the third level. I was walking down the hallway to the door that would lead to the man that has haunted the outskirts of m mind for the past seven years of my life and was now at the front and center of it now. My heart started to pound against my rib cage as my knuckles pounded against the door.

"Just a minute," came from somewhere on the other side of the door. I heard some footsteps lead to the door and stop just before the door swung open. There in front of me stood Troy only in a towel that covered the lower half of his body. "Hey."

"Hi Troy"

"Come in Brie. Um, let me go put on some clothes," he left to go put on some new clothes that I had ordered to this room for him. I sat down in one of the chairs that were placed by the small dining room table. He soon reentered wearing a dark blue shirt that accented his cerulean eyes and low rise jeans. "I forgot to thank you for allowing me to be in this room. So thank you."

"You're welcome," He was more outgoing and talkative today I observed. "I was in the neighborhood and I wondered if you would like to take a walk with me? It's been a long time since the last time that I saw you and I wanted to catch up."

"Uh, sure let me go get a pair of shoes on and we can head out." I waited another minute until he came back out from putting his shoes on and we left. Not a word was said in the elevator or in the lobby, but it was a comfortable silence and not an awkward one. When we were outside Troy turned my way and asked me, "Why aren't you at work?"

"I could ask you the same question," I replied. I put my focus into making sure our steps were in sync with each others as I did with anyone that I walked with.

"Touché, and as you probably have guessed I do not have one currently," he said sheepishly and quietly. He lowered his head and looked at the sidewalk. I placed a hand on his arm in a comforting manner as I might have done in the past. I soon become conscious of the fact that I shouldn't be doing that and put my hand back at my side.

"I didn't know that but I had guessed that. And I am taking a personal day because, honestly, I wanted to come talk to you and have lunch with Sharpay and Taylor."

"They live here?" He was looked back at me and the intensity of his eyes were prohibiting my vocal cords from usage which did allow me to look over his features; his eyes were the same blue that they were before but everything else about them had changed, they looked aged and that they had been through a lot of shit that most others haven't. His hair was a little longer than what it used to be, but it was practically the same hair as before.

I quickly regained the ability to talk, "Yeah they do. Actually Sharpay and I now own a boutique, oh that reminds me. I know that you don't have a job so I'm here to ask if you want one."

"Of course I do, but what type of job is it?" he asked apprehensively. "I don't want to mess it up."

"You wouldn't be able to. It's a job as a cashier."

"I'll take it. When do I start?"

"In a few days, we need to get you a wardrobe!" and off we went to the stores of the _**fabulous**_ New York City.

**

* * *

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***the word

_**fabulous**_** is dedicated my friend pinkie0496's father and the word **_**frivolous**_** is dedicated to my friend at a different school of mine who taught me the word… So what did everyone think? Did you like it? Not like it? Did you know that reviewing helps the soul? Not really but I'd like to think so, now push the little 'review this story' button and make this little author really happy! Going to update before the time stated in the before chapter [hopefully] fingers crossed X*****


	7. Chapter 7

**Pleeaassseee don't kill me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry! Without any more words about my absence, chapter 7:**

**~blast from the past chapter~ **

"I'll take it. When do I start?"

"In a few days, we need to get you a wardrobe!" and off we went to the stores of the _**fabulous**_ New York City. 

We immediately walked to the men's department of Macys. I grabbed a large selection of stylish polos and dress shirts that were all in his size and that would be acceptable to wear in Sharpay and I's boutique. I led Troy to a changing room, ignoring the '5 Items or Less' sign that was posted on the outside of the dressing room, and put the clothes in the same room as him. I informed Troy to try on all of the clothes that were in the dressing changing room and to make separate piles one for buying and the other for not buying. I then got him a selection of pants and ties that were would be both acceptable in the shop and it would make women want to buy something from him. I gave him the pants and walked over to one of the chairs that were conveniently positioned there.

I was sitting in the chair messing checking for emails on my Iphone when I heard some grunting come from Troy's changing room. "Shit."

I silently walked over to the door and knocked, "Are you okay in there?"

"Does it sound like it's okay in here?" he countered.

"No, no it doesn't sound like everything's okay. What's the problem?"

"My shirt won't get off of me," he whined. I jiggled the door handle to show him that I couldn't get in to help him with his predicament. _Click_, the door was no unlocked. I gently pushed the door open only to find Troy caught in his shirt and unable to untangle himself from the mess. I had to put my hand over my mouth and take a few breaths to make sure that I wouldn't burst into giggles. My eyes wandered about the bronze skin that Troy was showing. He was turned so that I could only see his back.

"Come here," he turned around. The shirt was a little too small for him and it caught his elbow in the sleeve. His washboard abs were in plain view, it took a lot of self control on my part not to completely stare at all six of them. I grabbed his hand and pulled it through the sleeve, and then took the neck of his shirt over his head. His eyes never left my eyes and mine didn't wander from his. He was starting to lean in to my face. His eyes darted to my lips a few times. My mind froze, and then it went into overdrive._ Oh, my god! Oh, my god! What the fuck should I do? He can't kiss me, we just met again. Plus, he's shirtless! You know how this whole ordeal would end up, do you want that?_ That was what the reasonable side of my mind was yelling. The carefree side was insisting on other things._ Why are you freaking out? You've kissed him many of times before this and sometimes not on his lips. It isn't like you both haven't touched every inch of each other's bodies so why care if you kiss him now._ Reason fought back,_ you kissed Jackson yesterday, what would this do to your current almost non-existent relationship with him. Think about your position with Jackson now! __**DON'T**__ KISS THE MAN!_ I coughed; a fake one but it brought both of us into reality. "Here's your shirt," I whispered. I handed it back to him.

He straightened back up, "Thanks for that," he held up the shirt as in showing that was what he had meant.

"Okay, well I will be out here waiting for you to finish. Take your time," and with that I went back to the chair and sat down. I was rubbing my temples attempting to get rid of some of the stress that just came about with the almost kiss. My hands then found their way to the little side table with the magazines on them. The front boasted Kate Gosselin's new television show, the newest styles, and a bunch of personal celebrity stuff. I flipped to the fashion section and started to read the section and the one about Kate Middleton's clothing choices as well.

Troy took another ten minutes trying on all of the clothing that I had placed in his changing room. He walked out holding a few shirts and a couple pairs of pants. "I like these pants," gesturing to his left arm, "and these shirts," he the gestured to his right arm. I nodded, got up and took the clothing off of his arms and sorted through them. They all looked very similar to each other, but it didn't matter because this was the beginning of his wardrobe and that would mean that we would have to come shopping again. It wasn't that bad of an idea, dressing up my life size Ken doll.

"Okay, let's go look at some boxers, socks, and shoes," the look upon Troy's face was priceless. He obviously didn't think that shopping would take this long. I let out a giggle, at which he laughed at. "Don't think that his laughing is going to get you off the hook with shopping, because we still have a lot more to buy for you, and me." He gave me a confused look but then remembered from our shopping trips from when we were dating that I couldn't go shopping without buying at least one thing for myself.

We shopped around for a good two hours trying on probably over a hundred more items. Yes, _we_. I didn't do as bad as I had thought that I would, I only bought a new wallet, a pair of tennis shoes, and a new bottle of nail polish. We fell down with the bags in our hands at a table outside one of the million Starbucks that litter the sides of the already littered streets of New York. "I'll go in and order a beverage for you if you want something," Troy said with is hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh, um, I'll just take a tall non-fat Chai tea latte," I smiled sweetly as he stared at me with a confused look on his face as if I had just told him my order in Farsi. I dug down into my purse and pulled a crisp twenty out of my new Coach wallet. "You can order something as well and something for us to eat please." I battered my eyelashes at him as I had when I had asked impossible things from him when we were dating. He smirked and curtly shook his head and walked towards the door that lead to the long queue.

As he left I pulled out my phone and checked the text messages that I had collected over the day. There were ten from Jackson, two from Sharpay, and one from my mother. I read the one from my mother first because that would probably be the least stressful for me to read out of all of them, "Gabi- ur father has a business meeting in NYC next week. Can we stay ur house 3, Mom" never mind the thought of her text not being stressful. I quickly replied back that they could.

I then went to Sharpay's text messages said that she had set up a spot for Troy at Hoes and Bows, and that we (Taylor, Sharpay, Troy, and I) should go out for dinner Thursday night. I replied back to her that I would have to ask Troy about it.

I then skimmed through most of Jackson's texts and, as I had thought, they were all saying that he was sorry and that he wanted to talk to me. The idea of him kissing me again brought back the deep hole that had vanished while with Troy, and just being with Troy added more depth to the hole. Not wanting to be mean to Jackson I was going to do the responsible thing and tell him that I was out and had plans all week so I could only speak to him this weekend, which we would do so accompanied by Sharpay and Taylor.

"Um, Brie, here's your latte tea thing," he handed me the small cup. I smiled up at him. "I also got each of us one of their chocolate chip cookies 'cause I know how much you love them." I greedily grabbed the cookie out of his hand and took a large bit out of it. I never got cookies or most anything too bad when I went out because I wanted to keep my figure but this cookie was amazing and with Troy remembering my favorite type of food made it all the more better. I got up and grabbed the bags that I had been carrying all without spilling my drink or dropping my cookie. We started walking back to where we had originally started this entire day- his hotel.

"So, how did you like today?" I asked him.

He looked down at me, "Loved every minute of it."

"Well that's a good thing. I was thinking that maybe you would want to start working on Thursday? And maybe that night you, me, Sharpay, Taylor, and possibly the guys that they're dating could go out for dinner?" Okay so I took some poetic license on that but I was thinking that they would probably end up doing that any ways. I would text Sharpay later about the idea and if Troy was going.

"Like a date?" he asked, I couldn't see his face because he had turned away so I couldn't tell what he was thinking about.

"Um, sure, if you would like to think of it in that light but it would be more like a 'good job today and let's get everyone back together' kind of ordeal," I was trying so hard not to make this lead down the road not wanted. I already mucked up one friendship this week and I was not going to muck up this one.

"Yeah, that'd be fun. Hey, I could wear one of the new outfits that we bought today," you could hear the smile that was radiating in his voice because he was going to see Sharpay and Taylor again; they had been great friends back in high school. Before we knew it we were standing in front of his hotel building walking in the front doors.

We had stayed quiet the entire ride up the elevator. I was anticipating Thursday probably more than any other day since graduation day. Soon enough we were standing just outside of the door leading to Troy's hotel room and he was sliding the card across to get into the room. Once inside we were inside we put all of the bags on the couch that was on the opposing wall of the bed.

"I guess you are going to leave aren't you?" he assumed.

"I can always help you put the new clothes away," I thought, not wanting to leave him. A large smile was plastered on his face as he nodded in agreement. We put shirts on the hangers in the small closet, and pants on the shelves that are on the sides of the closet. Boxers and socks went in the first drawer of the dresser that hugged the same wall as the bed. We put the three pairs of shoes by the door so that he could quickly put them on as he walked out of the door before work.

Everything was put away in its place in no time at all. Troy offered me a drink of water, but I declined his offer. "Do you have enough food in here for a while?" I inquired.

"Yeah, remember when you offered this place you said that I'd be taken care of? Well the hotel employees take me very well thanks to you."

"That's good," I said blankly my mind being taken over by thoughts on how to stay here longer. "I guess I'll leave now. Shadow probably misses me and you're probably getting tired of me being around. Bye."

"Brie," Troy said firmly. "_You_ know that I would never get tired of you."

"Yeah, but it's getting late and Shadow really will be missing me soon because she hasn't gone out all day," I turned around and walked to the door where I quietly put on my shoes. Troy came right up behind me, I stood up. We were looking at each other in the eye; he leaned down and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was nice gesture and my cheeks turned red in happiness. "Bye Troy," I whispered and closed the door.

I called a cab to come pick me up and while in the cab I texted Sharpay about the new changes. She agreed to it and told me that she would inform Taylor to bring her beau as well. Soon enough the taxi was at my apartment building. I gave the man in front a fifty and told him to keep it all. I quietly went my apartment building and took care of all of my chores before falling into a peaceful slumber.

**Hope you liked the chapter, the beginning was hard for me to write (the reason why I took sooo long). But the middle/end just flew onto the page. Hope you liked it. Hopefully I'll have next chapter out soon. Have all the ideas on a page all that's left it typing the words to bring it to life**

**Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!**

**~Kai**


	8. Chapter 8

*****Hey everyone, I am waayyy sorry for this! I have been meaning to type this for a while but I haven't and I'm sorry for that. I do have a few pitiful excuses that I would like to share: 1) Boys, more importantly one boy that I've been "dating" for a while, but I don't like him I like his friend and I've been attempting to break up with him for a while, but haven't yet… 2) Softball season:) yup, it's that time of year again! 3) I've been caring for my beloved turtle, fish, and plants lately and have been spending my time with them! Those are all the reasons I have. Oh, and I realized one thing, I don't have to type five hundred billion words per chapter to be a good writer, I used to try to be like the other writers that I've read on here and type close to 5,000 words per chapter, but I realized I don't have to! So don't be expecting extremely long chapters anymore!*****

**~Flash back from previous chapter~**

I called a cab to come pick me up and while in the cab I texted Sharpay about the new changes. She agreed to it and told me that she would inform Taylor to bring her beau as well. Soon enough the taxi was at my apartment building. I gave the man in front a fifty and told him to keep it all. I quietly went my apartment building and took care of all of my chores before falling into a peaceful slumber.

_THURSDAY:_

'It's Troy's first day of work.' That was first thought to cross my mind this morning. I got up brushed my teeth, got dressed, did hair and makeup, and then ate breakfast. I was quickly getting ready today because I wanted to drive Troy to work today. I quickly grabbed my phone from the cup holder where my phone had been placed and dialed the number to Troy's room.

"Hello?" His voice was laced with lethargy, as if he had just gotten up.

"I'm on my way over. I thought that I'd drive you to work today," I could hear the rush of water on the other side of the line. "Did you just get up?"

"Uh, no, why would you think something like that? How soon until you're here?" He breathed, it sounded like he was trying to do two things at once due to the fact that I could hear items dropping, the rumbling of papers, and swear words being muttered under his voice.

"If traffic keeps on going as it is probably ten-ish minutes," I estimated. There were horns going off from all around me. Even at 8:34 in the morning there was ruckus from the many cars that clogged the artery of a street.

"Okay, see you then," the phone clicked off and I was left to the buzzing noise that occurred when someone hung up on you. I smiled thought about dinner tonight. Taylor was bringing the guy that she had met at the club last Saturday, Chad. Apparently they had gone on a few dates since then. One Monday night, they went out for lunch on Tuesday, and they had watched a movie at her apartment last night. Sharpay had filled me in with the details which had lead me to believe that I was an awful friend for not noticing her happiness on Monday, Sharpay had said that I was just a little overwhelmed, Taylor didn't care and that I was a good friend. Then she went on about how wonderful Zeke had been the past few days because they too had gone out to a movie Sunday night and went out to dinner yesterday. I was glad that they were finding people that were making them happy. And I was hoping that they would become Troy's friends so he would have someone besides me to talk to and that they too would have testosterone.

Traffic began to clear up as I got closer to Troy's hotel. I went in and got a key from the front desk by saying that I had lost my key to the hotel room. They willingly obliged to give me another key. Once up to his room I quietly entered, I could hear the shower going. I smiled to myself; he _had_ just woken up that silly man. I then thought about scaring him in the shower, and decided to do it.

I quietly opened the shower door just enough to let me in, he didn't hear because he was too busy singing Nickelback songs. When he came to the chorus of Savin' Me I bellowed out "Show me what it's like to be the last one standing and teach me wrong from right and I'll show you what I can be."

"Ah, Brie! What are you doing in here?" He was looking around the curtain that separated his naked body from me. I was buckled over laughing my head off.

"Scaring you, that's what I was doing," I breathily said. "So I see that you did just wake up, did you not?"

"Guilty as charged," he went back inside of the shower to finish washing himself. I walked over to where the clothing he laid out was and looked through them. He had lain out a good outfit for a first day, a blue button down shirt with a matching tie, a pair of black slacks, and of course a pair of boxers with designs on them.

"Nice boxers," I jested. He looked around the curtain again at me.

"Get out of here; I'm naked and almost done."

"Oh, it isn't like I haven't seen you naked before," that came out of my mouth without thinking. The words hung in the air for a minute before Troy began the conversation again.

"That was then, this is now. Now please consider my self-consciousness and leave," he joked with a smirk dancing on his mouth. I rolled my eyes at both his egotistical statement and his lie.

"Fine," I sulked out of the bathroom to add to the already melodramatic line of events that occurred in the bathroom.

Troy eventually came out of the shower completely dressed and cleanly shaven. He looked very dashing and handsome, a sight that would, hopefully, becomes a usual occurrence every week day. "You look nice," I commented.

"Uh, thanks," his hand found its way to the back of his neck and began scratching it bashfully. "So, when does Hoes and Bows open? God I feel gay saying that!"

I started to laugh but then caught my breath and said, "About 10ish today, and considering that it's already five after nine we need to head down there to open the place," and with that I grabbed his tie and pulled him to the door where I ordered him to put on his shoes quickly.

Once in the car I informed Troy on how to set up the store in the morning, "The first thing that you do when you get in there is to turn on the lights, take a glance over the folded clothes and make sure that they are in order but don't worry it's not your job to keep them folded and in order that's Mandy's job, next if Sharpay or I tell you to put a sign out on the counter I expect you to do that. That reminds me of something I forgot to tell you, the counter is your home, so keep it clean, organized, and presentable at all times. Back to the list, the last thing you do before Mandy opens the store is to count all of the money before the day begins. There's a whole other set of things to do when the day is over but we can talk about those during lunch, and which yours is at noon sharp."

Troy just sat there and looked ahead with an apprehensive look on his face. Probably new work nerves. I put my hand on his, which was located on the arm rest on his seat, and gave it a little squeeze. He looked over at me as soon as I had made skin contact, "You'll do great. I just know it," I whispered trying to give him reassurance. A small meekly smile covered his lips for just a moment before it vanished again. We kept our hands together the rest of the ride to the store.

We quickly arrived since most of the traffic had calmed down due to the fact that it was about 9:15 in the morning, a very odd time to be driving in New York City on a Thursday. The store looked very sophisticated and chic on the outside. Troy gazed at the building with awe and amazement. I wondered for a minute why he would do that but I soon realized that he was homeless a mere five days ago.

I parked around the corner from the store. We walked to the store with no exchange of words for he was too nervous and I was already picking out my outfit for the party after his first day of work. We entered through the back employee entrance into the lockers that each employee owned. I began my tour here, "This is where your locker will be. Each employee gets one; you can put extra clothes there, food, drinks, anything. Well, almost. No drugs, alcohol, or weapons.

"We'll continue our tour in the main show room," I guided him into a large room filled with tables, shelves, and hangers full with a selection of clothing, jewelry, purses, and shoes. There was a small chandler in the middle of the ceiling, and the walls were a tasteful light pink. Towards the middle/back of the room there were two cash registers that were lined up in a row on a shining white table. We walked over to them. "This is where you will be working. I think that it's pretty self explanatory. There will be another person working with you, his name is Austin. He's pretty cool." I then walked into the center of the room and held my arms out to the side of me to show off the entire selection of items, "I would love it if you would help the other workers that are here to fold clothes, help customers, and anything else when there is no need for you at the registers, any questions?"

Troy looked utterly happy; a smile was plastered onto his face. "Uh yeah I do. One how long is lunch?"

"Oh yeah, I had forgotten those things. Lunch is an hour long, the work day is from 9:30am to about 5:30ish pm, but we aren't too strict on the times as long as it's at least a little close to the times then we're okay, any more questions?"

"Yeah, how much does it pay?" he gave me a crooked smile that he knew that I fell for in high school.

I put on the most professional face that I could while he was smiling like he was, "It's fifteen fifty an hour but as you work the salary goes up a bit. All of this was in the employee manual I gave you. Did you not read it?"

"Uh, you never gave me one. All you told me was that I was going to be a cashier and the day I was to work on," He stated with a smirk.

"Well that was stupid of me! Just a minute, I'll be back," dashing off to the back room to grab the manual I tripped over my own two feet. I landed with a thud on the carpet. Troy ran over to my side and helped me up off the ground. "Thanks," I muttered.

"Yup," his hand went to the back of his head to scratch his neck. His deep blue eyes were staring at me with concern while I was brushing myself off from being on the ground. "So, where's the manual?"

"Never mind that, I'll just teach you some of the ropes for now and give you the book later on today. Like during lunch?"

"Are you asking me out on a date, Miss. Montez?" Troy bantered.

"I may be. So want to?"

"Of course then, but don't tell the other employees they may think that I'm trying to get in with the boss to get ahead," Boy, if only he knew that he wouldn't need to try, that I had already put him as my favorite on the list of employees. I simply nodded and smiled at him then walked to the counter.

"This is your cash register, as I have said before this is your home keep it clean and presentable to the public. Hopefully you know how to scan the barcode with this price scanner which sends it up to the computer," I looked over to him to make sure he was paying attention to what I was saying. "If there is a sale on an item and it doesn't have a price tag or if an item doesn't have a tag get another one, which is what I would do, or you could get the handy-dandy big book of everything, there's also one on our website as well! It's updated almost twice a week," I pulled out a giant 3-ring binder that had pages of clothing articles each in a protective covering.

"Anymore questions?" I quickly put away the book and looked into the cerulean eyes that I loved so much.

"Nah I can just ask Austin if I have any issues. Plus I know the boss's number if I have any other issues," he winked.

"Are you flirting with the boss?" I played.

"Only if she's liking it," he stepped closer to me. Our heads were a mere inch apart I could feel his warm breath against my own lips. My eyes closed involuntarily as our lips got closer and closer to each others. There was a slight pause before the kiss…

"Hey boss I heard we got a newbie!" Austin walked in at the worst time. Troy and I jumped back from where we were trying to create a distance between us. Troy looked a mixture between embarrassed and annoyed. "Um, did I interrupt something?"

"No Austin you didn't. Troy I want to introduce you to your coworker, Austin."

*****Did you like? I did… So yeah review and stuff! Love ya' ~Kai*****


	9. Chapter 9

***** Hey guys! So I'm back and I quickly updated :) I'll probably be updating more considering I got cut from the softball team and so I have a lot more time for typing… I just thought that you would appreciate this coming out so soon. Let me just say this: it's a lot easier to update when you aren't thinking 'I need to make it to 3,000 words!' and just think 'I can type until I'm happy with what I have'. I hope you all have that experience in your life!**

**Also I wanted to give a few shout outs to people that I feel like giving them to:**

**EmmaWoodhouse88- My turtle, Juliette, says hi! And thanks for the review!**

**MissIndependentlyPerfect- Thanks for loving it, I am too ;)**

**Babeloun- trust me I am continuing and am glad you like it!**

**Lilypadlover1234199-thanks for the continuous reviews to basically every chapter, it really makes me smile:D**

**Midnight113- thanks for the input and for always reviewing for me!**

**Bluebell140- I agree with the closeness… and thank you soo much for taking the time to review every chapter.**

**Bubzchoc- thank you for always reviewing and giving me what you think of the chapter!**

**Love all you readers:) *****

**~Blast from the past~**

"Hey boss I heard we got a newbie!" Austin walked in at the worst time. Troy and I jumped back from where we were trying to create a distance between us. Troy looked a mixture between embarrassed and annoyed. "Um, did I interrupt something?"

"No Austin you didn't. Troy I want to introduce you to your coworker, Austin."

"Pleased to meet you buddy! Welcome to the Hoes and Bows work force," Austin stated placing out his hand for Troy to shake which Troy did. Austin was not a very tall man, actually he was quite small. Austin stood at 5' 2" had blonde hair and had been on the tennis team when he was in high school. He may not have had the looks but he was one of the friendliest guys you'd ever meet.

"Glad to meet you to," there was some question laced in Troy's tone of voice but friendly none the less.

I folded my hands together and looked over to Austin, "I think that you can take it from here can'tcha," He shook his head with a large grin on his face. "Okay, well I need to get to my other job, so see you guys later. Troy remember lunch, I'll pick you up around one o'clock-ish so be ready."

Troy looked back over at me, with a hint of fear in his eyes. I couldn't stand the look; I quickly walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him. My hands hooked together at the back of his neck as they had been so many times before. He leaned down and was fully enwrapped in my hair, smelling it, touching it, and combing it. It was a wonderful feeling that I just didn't want to get rid of. The parts of my skin that was touching his skin was roasting, it was almost as if an electric blanket was hugging me. I knew that this was too good to last long, and Troy slowly backed away. Cold air filled the spaces that he used to inhabit, making me shiver.

"Bye Brie," he whispered. I turned back around and headed towards the employee lounging area. I went to my small office that was located near the door to the main show room to grab the manual that I was to give to Troy.

I walked into my office and realized that I never really did any work here. It was a sad thought because I really loved it here, this was my baby. However, I loved my other work as well. I got to help the environment and run my own company at the same time while using environmentally friendly products that I learned about at my first job. Having both of these jobs and doing them both very well before the age of twenty-five did leave me without a serious boyfriend, fiancé, or even a husband. All I got was a quick fuck from one man then off to the next one. And I was getting tired of it.

I finally got to work, and not late as I thought that I was going to be. I quickly went to work on some of the papers that my boss had given to me to look over. After about fifteen minutes I realized that I didn't have music playing as I usually did. I scooted across the floor to my iPod I put on _Savin' Me_ the same song that Troy had been singing in the shower. While listening memories came back from high school:

_ Rain drops were coming down on me as I was sitting on a bench outside of school. I didn't mind the rain considering it hid the tears that were streaming down my face. I had just been cut from the softball team. Sharpay and Taylor had both made it and I had been better than the both of them, I thought. I was so caught up with my thoughts and emotions that I didn't hear a person sneak up from behind me._

_ "Brie, hey, what's wrong?" Troy had popped up from nowhere and had already seated himself next to me. I just shook my head and kept crying. I had only known Troy for six months, how could I just open up to him especially when he didn't talk to me much outside of school. "Seriously Brie, what's up? I see you have a bat bag with you, so what is wrong?"_

_ "I… I… I got cut," and the sobbing began again. This had been the second time that I had cried in front of him since I had met him._

_ "Aw Brie, they don't know what they're missing. Coach is probably, no will regret not putting you on the team."_

_ "How… would you know…?" I managed to get out between sobs._

_ "How could I not know? I've seen you weight lifting, running, conditioning, and throwing all winter! Yeah, I looked in your gym during basketball and you looked fine," Troy teased._

_ "But I didn't make it! Taylor and Sharpay did! Plus Taylor just started two years ago and she's on JV," I replied. My crying had toned down._

_ "It's just freshman year Brie. Did you know that Elvis failed music class, Einstein failed algebra, and most importantly Michael Jordan got cut from Varsity basketball his sophomore year. See they all turned out alright. As will you, I promise you that," Troy told me. I was so impressed by his knowledge of failures that accomplished great things that I threw my arms around him and gave him a hug. _

_ "That has that has to be one of the sweetest things someone has ever told me. Thanks, also do you need a ride, 'cause my mom's coming soon."_

_ "Yeah I do," We left in my mom's car and Savin' Me was playing which we sang every lyric to. That night I had met the one guy in my life that I knew would always be there for me._

My hands were getting sore from all of the typing that I had been doing, trying to write a letter to some CEO's about switching over to more eco-friendly products and the profit that they could accumulate by doing so. Grabbing some lotion from my purse I looked over to the clock on my wall which read 12:45pm. I really needed to get going to get to Troy in time.

I ran inside the store. "Troy, I'm here," I breathed trying to catch my breath. I looked around trying to find him. I couldn't see him. "Troy! Austin! Where are you?" I sang. I waited a few seconds, looked down at my watch which read 1:07pm, and then looked back up.

Troy and Austin popped up from beneath the counter where they had been working. I jumped in the air and let out a little scream. Troy and Austin started to buckle over laughing. "You should have seen your face," Troy said in between his laughs.

"Yeah, it was priceless," Austin agreed tears were creeping their way out of his eyes because he was laughing so hard.

I was starting to get a little mad at them, "Seriously, you both are what twenty-three, twenty-five? And you are both playing these pathetic tricks! Plus I'm your boss!" This didn't affect them what so ever, they continued to laugh.

Troy was the first one to stop laughing. "Oh, we were just playing a little trick on you. You're alright," he said while walking over to me.

"I may be alright but my hearts still pounding extremely fast because of you two idiots," I countered.

"Nah, it's not what we did that's making your heart pound; it's just me standing here. Isn't it?" He smiled at me cockily.

"You always think that everything is about you. Don't you?"

"It is, isn't it? That was one of the reasons why you liked me."

"Yeah, keyword being _liked_ in that statement."

"Oh, I feel sexual tension rising here!" Austin chimed in. Troy smirked at him as if trying to say 'when isn't there' while I was glaring at Austin for just putting more thoughts into Troy's little head. "Those were some looks of love. Wait just a second. You two both used to date right? Is that part of this sexual tension thingy?"

"Yeah, we used to date. But that was a long time ago," I stated strictly.

"She just wishes that she could still be dating this," he gestured to his body. "Oh don't deny it. Girls used to fawn over me, as did you."

"I would never!"

"Um, okay," Austin smiled at us one of his 'I really don't care/understand' smiles. "Well, have a wonderful time at lunch you two," he gave the both of us a little wave of the hand then walked over to some clothing that needed to be folded.

"You still wish you were dating me, don't ya'" Troy said. _Sort of,_ my mind replied. However I wasn't going to let him know that.

"Psh no, if I wanted you then you would probably know. Now can we leave, I'm starving!" and with that my stomach growled in its agreement.

We entered the restaurant and sat down immediately. The waitress came and took our orders. "So, you haven't talked really since I picked you up," I started.

"Eh, there really hasn't been too much to say. I went to work, which that you took me to so no conversation there. I worked at work, we folded clothing and checked people out so not much there either. Then you picked me up and we drove here, and lookie there not conversation," he replied.

"God, no need to be cocky, I think I know something that can get a conversation started," Troy rolled his eyes at me. "Did you know that a Neanderthal's brain was larger than the Homo sapiens? Oh, wait, I no longer can call you a Neanderthal. That's depressing," I informed him.

"Well did you know that the electric chair was created by a dentist? Or that the state of Florida is larger than England? Or that Winston Churchill was born in a ladies room during a dance?" Troy rambled on.

"You never did cease to amaze me with your useless information. Remember when I used to make fun of you when we were dating?" I laughed.

"Oh, just wait, I will make it on Jeopardy someday and I will meet Alex Trebek and I will win."

"Um yeah, sure you will," I countered. At that moment our food came and we started to eat. "Do you like the food?" I asked Troy.

"Yeah, but it's nowhere close to my cooking abilities!" he stated proudly.

"Well you're going to have to show me them some time because I loved how you used to cook in high school. Yum, the chicken that you cooked was so good," my mind was off to food heaven. While off in food heaven, Troy took my hand that was on the table and just held it, this brought me back from there.

"This is nice," Troy said. He was now rubbing my hand with his fingers. Goosebumps were showing up on my arm as a result of the intimate hand holding. My cheeks began to flush because of the goose bumps. God, Troy why are you doing this to me? I thought to myself. I nodded my head, a little late to his response but I did it anyways.

The check came and I paid it. Troy looked off as I paid it because he didn't like the fact that I was paying for it and he wasn't.

"Want to take a little walk before we go back to work?" I suggested hoping that he was catching on to the idea that I liked him, which was evident through the multiple almost kisses, but men being men I just wanted to be safe.

"That sounds great with me," he replied and we were off. We walked alongside the road a little bit and then into Central Park a little ways. We were looking off into a lake when I felt that someone was looking at me. I looked over at Troy and he was looking at me. This moment felt right, as if all the previous almost kisses had been foreplay to this very moment because Troy was lowering his head towards mine. I raised myself up a little bit onto my toes to get closer to his lips. Both of our eyes closed as we closed the gap in between our lips. The first moment I felt his lips brush against mine I felt a tingling sensation on them that I hadn't felt since the summer after senior year…

***** Mwahahaha, I'm evil. Now if you are all good little readers and review for me I will probably have the next chapter up soon! Parties can get out of hand when you don't know your boundaries…*** REVIEW!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Wow, It's been a long time since I've typed (this story)-and I'm sorry for that. I could go on and on with excuses that you're just going to ignore so I'm not. I am going to give you one(ish) reason why this chapter has been delayed I'm working on another story or maybe two. There the cat's out of the bag... There's one for High School Musical, and I have another one that I think I may use with one of the Disney princess movies such as Aladdin, or Tangled, or Princess and the Frog, or Beauty and the Beast but I haven't decided which one yet. Anyway I may put up a sneak peak on my LiveJournal. I think that that's enough rambling for now... Enjoy the chapter:)**

* * *

**~Blast from the past~**

This moment felt right, as if all the previous almost kisses had been foreplay to this very moment because Troy was lowering his head towards mine. I raised myself up a little bit onto my toes to get closer to his lips. Both of our eyes closed as we closed the gap in between our lips. The first moment I felt his lips brush against mine I felt a tingling sensation on them that I hadn't felt since the summer after senior year…

* * *

My mind reacted as it had those many years ago. My arms snaked their way around his neck as his hands found my hips. We gave into little kisses to begin but they quickly turned into a passionate kiss. My lips opened to him and our tongues danced their sacred ritual that only we knew for it was us who created it and now carried out. It was like being able to see again after being blind for so long. Okay, maybe not to that extent but it was powerful and ardent. His soft lips being on my was blissful, but his tongue massaging mine in such intricate patterns that I thought for sure that I was dreaming of this, again. His lips being on mine and doing what they were doing lead my mind into overload, and I involuntarily moaned into the kiss.

My lips stopped moving, and then his stopped. A soft breeze danced over my lips where Troy's just where, I backed up a step and my eyes wandered to my shoes. Thoughts were whizzing around in my head. What is he going to think about you after you kissed him! No, he kissed me, you buffoon! My mind was raging a warring battle about Troy and his feelings towards me, but before the war could go any farther a hand snuck its way under my chin and pulled my head up. I was looking directly into Troy's eyes. The azure irises of his eyes were keeping me hostage, I couldn't look away from them. His lips tugged upward into a soft smile, which made my lips do the same thing in return.

"Hey," he stated, his eyes still gazing into mine. "I have a random fact for you, the scientific study of kissing is called philematology."

"Hi, thanks for that fact," I shyly replied. I nodded my head in the direction of the path that we had just taken. "I think that we should be heading back, Austin might be missing the one source of testosterone that I've allowed him," I smiled.

"Ah, so it was you that is trying to change poor ol' Austin into a girl by denying him a manly friend," he teased he bumped his hip against mine in an attempt to knock me off balance, but he failed.

"Maybe, but then why would I hire you if I'm trying to make him female?" I questioned, and as always he had a reply to it.

"I thought it was my charm and my dashing good looks," he laced our fingers together. The warmth of his palm against mine was very soothing and comforting. The thing that I had been wanting for a while was occurring, I had someone who was there for me. I mean there for me that is of the opposite sex, because Taylor and Sharpay would be there for me in a heart beat if I needed it.

"Have you been reading my diary? I should know better than to store it in the top drawer of my nightstand," I teased. We slowly came up to where I had parked the car. He opened the car door and gave a little bow as if I was royalty. I dashed into the car, grabbed the car keys from inside my coat, and threw them into the ignition. Troy got in while I was turning on the car.

We headed off down the road back to Hoes and Bowes. I glanced over at Troy, "So where exactly does this leave us?"

"Where do you want it to be?" he replied cryptically, his eyes gazing into my own.

"How about if anyone asks, we're dating but we're going to take it slow. It's been a while since I've been in a relationship," My eyes went to the road and my mind went into action thinking of the last person I had a relationship with, a stable relationship. "It's been since you," I mumbled.

"Hm, What did you say?" Troy asked, I shook my head no in the since that I hadn't said anything at all. The rest of the car ride was very quiet. Troy was in his mind and I was trying to memorize the feel of his hand, trying to remember all the creases, all the bumps, even the places that let off the most heat.

Soon enough we arrived at the front of Hoes and Bowes. We both exited the car and the door slammed behind us at the same time. I was reaching out to the door of the employee entrance when Troy bolted in front of me to grab hold of the door. "Really?" I said.

"I'm just trying to be chivalrous for m'lady," Troy stated with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Ah, just trying to kiss ass to the boss, are you?" I teased back, walking through the door with my hips swaying side to side trying to see if Troy would notice considering that this vital knowledge could come in handy at some point. I looked back around at Troy and no without a question was there he was staring at my butt. "Looking at something?" I asked with my hand on my hip for added emphasis.

"Uh, no," he replied looking like he was the little boy thats mother had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. He closed the door and walked over to me, "I wasn't looking at anything that I couldn't," and with that he lowered his head so that our lips met again with a spark.

"I think I should head in now," Troy coughed after we had broken apart. I could only nod as I watched him enter the showroom of the store. I went into my office where I sat down on my desk chair. There were pictures of friends and family on my desk. There was even one of Troy and I standing ready for senior prom. We were so unaware of the fact that within a few months our blissfulness would be gone and we wouldn't be seeing each other for five years.

I shook out all of the memories that were swimming around in my head and turned on my computer to start working. I started on the finances of Hoes and Bows. I was reading up on the up and coming fashions that were going to be hits for Sharpay when I felt two strong firm hands on my shoulders and a tickle of hot breath on my neck.

"What are you looking at?" Troy breathed. I swiveled around in my chair so that I was facing him and leaned up a little and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Just an article on up and coming fashions. What are you doing back here?" I asked back at him.

"The work day's over, and we have a party tonight remember?" He told me while grabbing my hand and pulling me up so that I was standing facing him. He kept hold of my hand, placed my other hand on his shoulder and put his hand on my waist.

"What are you doing?" I giggled.

"Dancing," Troy simply replied. He started the dance, we were moving back and forth very slowly until Troy started to lead us out of the door of my office and into the main showroom. We started to slow dance out among the clothing, I couldn't stop giggling as Austin stood there and watched us with a huge grin on his face. Troy noticed what I was giggling at and whispered in my ear, "He's just jealous that I have the best looking girl in New York dancing with me in a clothing store."

"So true," I blushed. I leaned my head on his chest for a few seconds until we had stopped moving, I looked up. Troy was looking back at me smiling, until his lips fell on mine. I closed my eyes and gave into the kiss.

"Awwww," And like that the moment was gone. I opened my eyes the moment that I broke the kiss to see who the aw had come from. It shouldn't have been a shocker that it was Austin who gave the aw. I smiled at him and looked back a Troy. Troy looked a little infuriated at Austin, I put my hand on his chin and he looked back at me.

"I think that we should be heading out," Troy just nodded, and broke away from the embrace that we had created while dancing, but one of hands were connected.

I dropped Troy off at his hotel and drove off to my apartment. I parked my car and went up to my room. I unlocked the door and went inside. Standing in the foyer of my apartment was none other than Jackson. "Jackson!"

"Why hello Gabriella. How are you?" He asked in an almost timid voice.

"Uh, good I guess. Might I ask what are you doing here, in my apartment?" I questioned him. I walked past him to the table that was my "dining" area that I hardly ever used and put down my purse which was more of a baggish tote.

"I came here to apologize for uh what happened in the park," Jackson started to scratch his head in embarrassment and his cheeks went red.

"Oh, that event, I think that I'm willing to put it behind us and move on, but as friends and only friends," I eyed him seeing what his reaction was going to be to my suggestion of just being friends. His smile teetered a little at thought of _just_ being friends and nothing more, but he continued on like nothing had occurred.

"That's what I was hoping that you would say," he was lying through his front teeth. "Restart?" He put out his hand for me to take and shake it.

"Really, the cliché restart move?" Jackson nodded and smiled a big goofy grin. "Fine," I took his hand and shook it. "Happy now?"

"Why yes I am good stranger, oh wait never mind I know you," he said.

"Once upon a dream. I know you the gleam in your eye is so familiar a gleam, yet I know it's true that visions are seldom as they seem. But if I know you I know what you'll do, you'll love me at once the way you did once upon a dream," I sang to follow his 'I know you'. Jackson gave me a 'you have got to be kidding me' look and I doubled over laughing.

"Did you seriously just start singing Once Upon a Dream from the movie Sleeping Beauty?" I could only nod because I was laughing so hard that I couldn't find my breath to say something

I stopped laughing soon after and looked at the clock that was on the wall. It read 5:30. "Shit!" I exclaimed.

"What?" Jackson asked with concern.

"I need to start getting around for a party tonight; we're celebrating Troy's first day of work. Uh, do you want to come?" I asked, hoping that he would say yes, he and Troy would become friends and everything would fall into place. I also hoped that the gang wouldn't mind if I invited him.

"Yeah, sure. I don't have anything else to do tonight so why not?"

"Okay, we're meeting around 7 because we're going to head to dinner before hitting the club. I'll write down the address," I grabbed a Post-It note and wrote down the information for Troy. "Here you go. See you later."

Jackson left, and I went to my closet to start my perilous adventure to find the perfect outfit to wear…

* * *

Okay, it's done:) I'm going to type some more tomorrow (maybe) I have a little bit other work to do as well… grr stupid grades. Oh well what can you do about bearded teachers who enjoy giving test? I hoped you enjoyed this chapter because I had a love/hate relationship with it… Please read and review and I will get it up sooner!

Writing Away,

** ~Kai~**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's the next chapter. I personally think it's one of my better written chapters, I'm thinking that watching the royal wedding may have to add to that, but I may be wrong. I actually had this one prewritten, I mean I wrote it and waited before posting so I could get ahead on typing:). Yeah, that means that I actually have more chapters(okay chapter) ready to go! Pat on the back for me. Also, thanks everyone for the reviews on got on the past chapter, I love reading them because I get happy! Any who read on readers read on...**

**~Blast to the Past~**

"Yeah, sure. I don't have anything else to do tonight so why not?"

"Okay, we're meeting around 7 because we're going to head to dinner before hitting the club. I'll write down the address," I grabbed a Post-It note and wrote down the information for Troy. "Here you go. See you later."

Jackson left, and I went to my closet to start my perilous adventure to find the perfect outfit to wear…

* * *

I dug around in my closet for something to wear for the party. I wanted something that would be acceptable to wear to a semi-nice restaurant and then to a club. I found a nice blouse that was a deep purple that hugged all the right places and had a neckline that wouldn't show off the girls too much but showed them off enough and a pair of light wash skinny jeans. I grabbed a pair of sandals that had a little bit of a wedge heel.

As I walked to my bathroom to do my hair and apply makeup I grabbed my phone. I didn't want to mess around with texting while doing my hair so I called Sharpay.

"What's up Gabi?" Sharpay asked when she finally picked up her phone.

"Hey Sharpay, I just wanted to call to give you the heads up that I invited Jackson to dinner and then the club afterwards. Is that okay?" I asked the words spilling out of my mouth like rushing water over Niagara Falls.

"Um, yeah but you are the one that's going to have to deal with Troy and Jackson both," Sharpay warned. I knew she was right and that this was going to end badly but I had to look at the positive and only show her the positive.

"Sharpay don't think such things. Troy and Jackson can become friends," even though I had attempted to sound confident but I failed and my voice sounded questionable.

"Um, yeah, sure they can," Sharpay sarcastically commented. "That's what Troy did with all the boys that kissed, wait no, looked at you in any sexual manner in high school. Yeah, Troy and Jackson could possibly become friends as long as Troy boy doesn't find out about Jackson kissing you in the park."

Hearing about Troy's protectiveness in high school brought back memories of when one of the boys on the football team was staring me down like a piece of meat and Troy set him straight.

_It was the night of one of the basketball games, one of the early ones where there are a few people that come to them outside of the parents and kids that are stuck doing concession stands for one club or another. I was a sophomore, and I was going with Taylor and Sharpay who were my new friends. We were sitting in the student section of the gym that was decked out in red and white, East High's school colors. The alarm for half time rang._

_"I'll go get food," I called to Taylor and Sharpay. They nodded as they made a beeline to the large group of guys that were talking on the basketball court._

_I went to the concession stands that were outside the gym's doors. I got a few boxes of candy and three waters. On my way back to the stands one of the varsity football players stopped me. I didn't want to tell him to get out of my way, that's like telling God that he's in the way and that you'd like him to move. Okay, God would probably be nicer than the varsity football player. He was staring at me in a very lustful way. "Excuse me," I squeaked._

_"I don't think that we've met before. My name's Brendon," he said in a cocky manner like his name was the best word ever invented._

_"I know," I commented back, my voice small in comparison to his confident and egotistical tone._

_"Of course you do," he stated nonchalantly as if everyone knew him, which was true. "So what are _you_ doing after the game tonight? A few of my boys and I are having a party over at his house I think that you should come," his eyes started to roam my body even more than before._

_I unconsciously moved the candy up to cover the v-neck of my 'Go Wildcats' t-shirt that I was wearing. "No thanks. I have other things to do, but thank you very much for the invitation," I stated as politely as I could and it was louder than before because my confidence was growing with every second that I talked to him. I started to move towards the door but I was stopped._

_"Wait a minute," his arm was held out into the air in front of me, stopping me from moving any farther. "No one, especially some underclassmen tells me no. You're going you little bitch," He grabbed my arm which made me drop the bottles of water and boxes of candy that I had been holding._

_"Ahem, I don't think she wants to go with you, bastard," I heard a voice behind me say. I looked behind me, as did Brendon, to see Troy standing there in his Wildcat's basketball uniform his hair dark with sweat that was rolling down his face._

_"Who do you think you are telling me that? You're just some sophomore basketball boy who doesn't know his place in this school. Go back to your little game and let the big boy get the girl," Brendon snarled._

_Troy just stood there watching Brendon; turned around and walked away. I stood there with my mouth wide open. There was no way in hell that Troy would do that. "Now back to us. You are going to go to the party, I _will_ make sure of it," Brendon spat at my face._

_"Mr. Hanson is there a problem between you and this young lady?" the man behind that voice was none other than Mr. Rhinefield, the vice principal and assistance varsity coach. And standing behind him was Troy with a smile of victory written on his face. Brendon let go of my arm and I ran into Troy's welcoming arms and we watched as Brendon tried to get out of claiming responsibility to the events that had just occurred. After that every time someone laid their hands on me that I didn't allow had to answer to Troy Bolton._

Sharpay made quite a few good points, "Okay, you're probably right. But we have to make sure that Troy doesn't find out about Jackson and me kissing. I don't want to sound ho like to him. Especially since he and I had just kissed today and I don't want to ruin it." I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand after I told Sharpay the one thing that I didn't want out of the bag that Troy and I were dating.

"Ah, so you two have finally hooked up, again. It's been a few days I'm surprised that you two haven't started going at each other yet."

"We're taking it slow so that we don't just have a physical relationship but an emotional relationship," okay so Troy and I hadn't exactly said that but hey it sounded good, did it not? "I think that we may actually go somewhere with this."

"Okay sweetie. I just don't want to see you get hurt again," Sharpay said in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, I know. Well I got to go finish getting ready for tonight. Bye," and with that I hung up. My hair was straight, I mean it was 'wow, is your hair naturally straight and you straightened it' straight. I had decided to go a little more dramatic with my make up since it was the evening and I was going out for dinner and clubbing.

I grabbed my car keys, kissed my dog good bye and headed for Troy's hotel.

* * *

I arrived at his hotel in no time at all. I quickly run up to his room and walk in, I had gotten a key to his room when I had walked in. "Hello? Is anyone alive out there?" I called using a line from the movie Titanic.

"Yes I'm alive. But I'm drowning in decisions," Troy called back.

"I'm coming good sir to save you," I said running dramatically to the room that he was using for a bedroom. He was standing in the midst of piles of clothing, staring out into the distance like he was trying to figure something out. "Duh duh duh duh, I'm here," I sang.

That took him out of the trance that he was in, "Okay then HELP ME!"

"What do you need help with?" I asked him, I knew that he couldn't pick out an outfit but I wanted him to tell me just to hear him talk.

"I need help with finding an outfit to wear to the restaurant and then the club," he exclaimed. He held up a shirt and a pair of pants and said, "Do these go together? Are they not suitable for the restaurant? Are they too dressy for the club? I don't know!"

"Calm down," I told him. "You sound like a teenage girl," I muttered as I walked towards one of the many piles of clothing and looked through them. I grabbed a light grey long sleeve shirt and a white wife beater to go underneath it. I handed these to Troy and then walked over to another of the piles. I dug through it and found a pair of dark wash jeans. "Here, put these on as well. Now that I found your outfit for tonight, go change into it."

Troy emerged from the bathroom looking quite sexy in his grey long sleeve shirt and jeans. He was smiling which really pulled together the clothing. "I think that it looks good. Now what pair of shoes?" he asked me. I went over to the closet and drew out a pair of dark grey converse.

"Okay, I think that we're ready to go," I said as I turned around and walked towards the door. However, before I could make it to the door I felt a strong pair of arms enwrap themselves around my body.

"Mmm, do we have to go yet?" he asked. I turned around in his arms and faced him and gave him a questioning look. "I mean I need help with my hair. It's not up to standard yet."

"That's a good excuse. Come on, we'll get it styled to perfection," I said with a smile that said more than just styling hair was applied.

"Gladly," he said as we walked hand and hand to the bathroom.

I took the bottle of styling gel from the counter and squeezed some into my hand. I rubbed my hands together and started working on Troy's hair I could reach his head because he was sitting down on the bed in his room, and I sat down behind him. I was massaging and sculpting his hair at the same time. I quickly finished, bent down and gave him a quick kiss on the neck and jumped off the bed. "Hey, get back here," he yelled after me.

I dashed into the little kitchen area and hid behind a wall that was separating the kitchen from the rest of the open room. I tried muffling the giggles that were escaping the confines of my mouth, but I was fruitless in the attempt. Troy snuck up behind me and tackled me to the ground. I was laughing extremely hard and so was he. He rolled off of me and I went and rolled onto him. We were looking into each other's eyes as I lowered my head to have our lips meet. I should have known that as soon as our lips met that we weren't going to be getting up for a while, which we didn't.

My plump lips were pressed against his when I felt his wet tongue asking for entrance into my mouth and I let him in. Our tongues wrestled each other while our hands explored each other, but also in a manner that was acceptable to our no rushing terms that we were sort of breaking by making out.

I let my mind let me start to think again, and I pulled back from our embrace/make out session. "I'm thinking that we've spent too much time here on the ground and that we should be heading off or else Sharpay will be sending out a search party for us," my breath was ragged while trying to tell Troy that bit of information. Troy just nodded. I slid off his body and stood up then helped Troy off the ground.

We dusted off and made sure that we looked presentable like we hadn't made out and then went off to dinner.

* * *

Troy and I arrived at _Il Giardino _an Italian restaurant (The Garden) where we were to be having dinner. We walked into the restaurant and told the maître Montez, which was what our reservations were under. Another waitress came up to us and showed Troy and I to where everyone else was sitting, looking at their menus. There were some conversations that I could hear. Taylor was talking to her date, Chad, and Sharpay was making conversation with her date Zeke and Jackson. Troy and I sat down in the last two chairs that were around the circular table which were between Jackson and Chad. I sat next to Jackson and Troy was next to Chad.

"Hey everyone," I started off. I didn't want to sit there in awkward silence and I was thinking that Troy wouldn't start off the conversation.

"Hello," basically everyone started off. Then Taylor took over the conversation. "Since everyone doesn't know everyone how about we go around and say our names."

Yes it was a very childish thing to do but we did it anyways because how else were you to know everyone when you are not sitting next to them having a conversation with them, and this sounded like a good way to start. "Oh, can we also say something about ourselves as well since we're going to go back to acting like kindergarteners?" Sharpay chirped in.

"Uh sure, and I can start us off. Well, let's see. Hi, my name is Gabriella Montez, but everyone calls me Gabi. Okay, almost everyone calls me Gabi," I had to change that because Troy gave me a look and he never calls me Gabi, it's always been Brie. "Now, for the interesting fact, hmm I uh have a pet poodle named Shadow."

"Gabi, we all know that, etch that most all of us know that. Give us something interesting," Taylor said.

"Fine, fine, I read like crazy, I read Pride and Prejudice every year in February, The Great Gatsby every June, and Gone with the Wind every October. Is that enough?" I asked.

"Yeah I think that's enough," Jackson said. "Okay, I'll take over now. So my name is Jackson Bouring. An interesting fact about me is that um in high school I used to think that acting was really stupid and now I act as a living, does that count as a random bit of information?"

We shook are head yes. Next up was Sharpay. "Hi my name is Sharpay Evans," she said a little too bubbly for most people. "A really cool fact about me is that I collect movies from back in the day, like the 1920s and 1930s. I mean who doesn't love Charlie Chaplin?"

"Hello, my name is Zeke Baylor. I am a student at the Institute of Culinary Education and next summer I'm going to Paris to study under some of the best chefs in the world!" Zeke exclaimed. The few other times that I had met him it was very brief and Sharpay was usually making out with him. He was a tall lanky African-American man that seemed like he was laid back and casual, exactly what over the top and glamorous Sharpay needs.

After Sharpay was Taylor, "Hey I'm Taylor McKessie. A intriguing bit of information about me is, um, I think that it's the fact that I love planting and gardening and the outdoors, it's just so amazing," Taylor gushed. We all started to laugh a little at the enthusiasm of Taylor's love of gardening.

"I'm Chad Danforth, and an interesting fact about me is that I've lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Princeton, New Jersey, Jacksonville, Florida, and now New York, New York," Chad had said.

"Hm, we've all lived in Albuquerque, that's weird that we haven't met," I thought out loud.

"Hey Chad, what color of house did you live in and on what street?" Troy asked. We all looked at him oddly.

"Uh I think I lived in a dark blue house on Winston Street," he replied.

"That's funny; I lived in a dark blue house on Winston Street. My parents still own that house," I once again said out loud.

"Chad, did you have a best friend there? 'Cause I think that I may have known you," Troy asked mysteriously. His cryptic questions were confusing and I couldn't keep up with his logic.

"Of course I had a best friend, he lived right next door to me. I think his name was Troy," Chad looked as if he was in a deep thought or maybe a memory had pulled him into his head. Everyone was looking at Troy and Chad.

All of a sudden Troy started to speak, "Hello, my name is Troy Bolton. I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico and when I was thirteen years old my best friend moved to New Jersey, and I never saw him again. That is until today." Chad looked up and over at Troy.

"Dude," Chad and Troy shared a little man hug that men do in a time of manly love between bros.

"So, you're the guy who used to live in my old house, and the guy that Troy used to talk about all the time," I said.

"Yeah, I guess I am that guy,' Chad replied. He was African-American, but unlike Zeke he had a large curly afro and had a smile that almost always blessed his face, well it was always there when I saw him.

After that the food came and the talking continued.

**Well that was extremely fun to type! I am proud of myself for making it to about 3,000ish words this chapter. I hoped you enjoyed it, because I was about to cut off at the part before Troy and Gabi go to the restaurant but I thought that you may kill me if I did that, so I didn't! The next few chapters will (hopefully) go quicker paced then the rest of the chapters. Typing them right now! Now, can you all do me a little favor and click that review button down there, yeah the one that has the word _review_ on it. Click it, and write something. If you do I may, etch that I _will_ send you the first 300 words of the next chapter! SO REVIEW!:)**

**Yours,**

**~Kai~**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everyone! Please don't hurt me, I've been trying to put this up for some while now however my computer doesn't agree with me... It got viruses and a bunch of other crap and so I asked my dad about it and he doesn't know computers but his friends do but he hasn't asked them yet. Anyways I'm really sorry about the late update, but I have the next chapter done and hopefully I will get it up if I get the chance to get to a computer soon. I hope you enjoy the chapter! :) p.s. I just realized that some of the people who reviewed last chapter didn't get their preview to this chapter and I'm sorry my computer is screwy and you'll get a preview to the next chapter- if my computer doesn't misfunction, again.**

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~Blast from the past~

After that the food came and the talking continued.

"So Troy, how was your first day working at Bows and Hoes?" asked Sharpay. She wanted him to talk about us getting together, but I knew that he wouldn't do that because we had said that we weren't going to tell anyone not just yet.

"It was pretty good. Austin's awesome, a little girly at times but that can be changed with a little bit of testosterone being around him," he said, looking at me thinking of our conversation about Austin earlier today. I had a smile on my face because of his cryptic statement that was only meant for me to understand, just like what he had done in high school.

"That's good to hear," Taylor commented. She had seen us two giving each other a semi-loving look just a second ago. "I have to go to the restroom, Gabi will you come with me?" I nodded.

"Excuse me," I got up and followed Taylor through the maze of tables until we got to the ladies room.

"Spill," that's all she needed to say. I knew exactly what she wanted to know, what she knew, and what she guessed. I think that you start to know what people are thinking.

"I can't. I'm sorry but I just can't tell you everything yet, but hopefully I will be able to in the near future," I told her. A look of slight exasperation took her face.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said. She stopped looking at me and turned towards the mirror and started to fix her hair and smoothen out her makeup.

"I really am sorry," I came up behind her and put my hand on her shoulder which she shrugged off. "I don't think that it's a very hard thing to guess."

"All I want to know is if you and Bolton are screwing each other again," she had turned around and was looking at me directly in the face. Her arms were folded across her chest.

"No," I stated directly. Her face softened and her lips gave way to a small smile.

"I think that I'm done using the restroom. Shall we return to the table?" she joked, I was extremely thankful that she wasn't going to take the questioning any farther.

"Indeed we shall," I replied lacing my arm in hers.

We walked back to the table that looked the same as it had when we left expect the fact that there was less food on everyone's plate besides Taylor and I's. We sat back down into our seats and joined the conversations again.

Troy and Chad were talking about what they two of them had been up to the past who knows how many years. "Yeah after graduating high school I went to New Jersey City University and got a degree with Criminal Justice, you?" Chad said.

"I went to New York University; it's actually right down the road from here. I got a major in the Performing Arts and a minor in Business," Troy informed Chad. I was listening to this intently because I was learning things about Troy that I had before guessed on but was now learning from him.

"That's cool," I spoke up. The two of them turned and looked at me; Chad gave me a large smile.

"Ah, so the girl was listening," Chad stated.

"It was interesting hearing about where you both went to college." At this time the waiter came and handed out the bills. We all paid for them. "I'm thinking that we could continue this conversation some other time," I said.

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We all arrived at the club around the same time. Chad and Taylor had been first and were waiting at the door when Troy and I arrived, then Jackson after him we all waited another five minutes until Sharpay and Zeke arrived (Sharpay with a love mark I might add). The man at the door let us in without any questioning or stopping.

The music was pounding from the loud speakers that were set on one side of the dance floor by the DJ that was turning out tunes with a decent beat. We all split up into the groups that we had arrived in besides Jackson who made a beeline towards the bar. He was hoping to pick up a single lady in need of some dancing and a few drinks.

"Troy, let's go to the dance floor," I said while dragging him by the hand to the already crowded dance floor. We found a little spot towards the back of the dance floor, which was nice because no one was focused on anything but themselves and their dance partner and we weren't too close to the speakers so 1.) I could talk to Troy and 2.) I would be able to hear in the morning. Troy grabbed me and pulled by body onto his and we began dancing. The beat of Enrique Iglesias's "Tonight I'm Lovin' You" was pounding through my body and made my hips sway to the beat which made Troy start to sway as well. It was an unbelievable and unexplainable feeling the way that my body fit into his body. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the feeling.

We stayed like this for about an hour just dancing to music, not really listening to it but using the beat to have something to sway with. "Troy, I really need something to drink," I whispered into his ear and nodded my head in the direction of the bar.

Troy smiled at me as I took his hand and wove through the crowds of dancers trying to get to the bar. We had finally gotten our way to the bar and ordered our drink when Jackson also came up but with some brunette girl. I smiled politely at them but they didn't notice me so I grabbed my drink.

"Hey guys," Jackson said when he saw us. I waved at him and Troy said hello. "This is Monica. Monica this is Gabi and Troy." Jackson introduced us to his brunette friend, she gave the two of us a small smile and a little wave then whispered something into Jackson's ear which made him laugh.

I looked up at Troy, "Don't you feel like we're intruding on something?" I whispered to him.

"Yeah," Troy whispered back. He took in the last gulp of his drink and leaned down to my ear, "I'm thinking that we head back to the dance floor for a little bit longer. There's something that I want to show you later on tonight."

This time he led me back to around the same area that we had been. And once again we began our dancing that made my mind go blank besides the thought of Troy and his body. The songs continued on one after another, there was a constant booming of the beat that was the base of every club song that was droning on in our ear drums/

I looked up at Troy, "I'm tired. Are you?"

"If you are tired we can leave, I don't care either way we go," Troy replied back ripping himself off of my body. A cool breeze settled where Troy used to be. He grabbed my hand and we took off towards the exit.

"Wait, I need to tell Taylor and Sharpay that we're leaving," Troy gave me a questioning look as if trying to ask why, so to save a little time I said, "I always tell them when I'm leaving if they haven't told me first. It's a safety precaution, don't want to get raped now do we?"

Sharpay was heavily grinding with Zeke so it was a little awkward trying to get Sharpay's attention away from Zeke. I informed her I was leaving and went to find Taylor with Troy following along. I found Taylor sitting at the bar drinking shots with Chad. Apparently they were having a competition to see who could down the most shots in three minutes. It was a futile event trying to talk to Taylor who was more worried about guzzling the hard alcohol than her best friend's well being.

"Never mind them Gabi, I want to show you something that most people never see at night," Troy told me as we walked out of the club. Our fingers were laced as we strolled along the sidewalk that was filled with people still lined up outside of the bar even though it was close to midnight and they probably weren't going to make it in. The car was parked down a few blocks so we took the pace very slow and enjoyed the cool summer air.

"So do I get a little hint as to where we are going?" I asked. I looked up at him and batted my eyelashes at him as to persuade him to tell me.

"Nope, not even a little hint. Oh, and don't think just because you bat your lashes at me will get you anywhere," he teased. I crossed my arms and pouted my lips at him. Troy just laughed, then bent down and gave my pouted lips a soft chaste kiss that made me blush. The kiss lasted only a second at the most but it made me want more. Troy started to stand back up but I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his face towards mine again. My lips brushed across his and sparks flew. Troy took over there, he couldn't stand not to be in charge of the kiss. He started to move his lips against mine which eventually lead to his tongue slithering it's way inside of my mouth. My hands played with the short hairs on the back of his neck but as the kiss deepened my playing turned into tugging. His hands were squeezing my hips and running up and down my back. We both pulled back from the kiss breathless. His hands peeled themselves away from my back and one found my hand that was at my side after I had released them from his hair. We continued on without talking to each other, not because we were embarrassed it was more because we were enjoying the quiet time too much to talk.

Troy and I were almost to the car when he suddenly pulled us another direction down a sidewalk. We took a few more turns and walked a few more blocks until we reached our destination, the Lincoln Center. "Here's where I wanted to take you," Troy said releasing my hand and walking towards it. I just stood there smiling as Troy walked up the steps towards one of the buildings happily. "Do you know how many times I have walked along these buildings wanting to preform in one of these halls? A million times. Yet the time has never come," Troy was either speaking to himself or me or maybe all the above. He was admiring one of the column that was holding the building up.

I walked the stairs to where he was and stood next to him, "You will someday I bet you that."

He turned around and faced me, "Do you think so?" His eyes were full of disbelief but there was also a small shimmer of hope in them.

I took his hands in mine and looked up into his gorgeous cerulean eyes, "I know so."

He gave me a small smile and took my hand, "Let's go walk around." All of the buildings were lit up with the ground lights which made the place seem more magical, plus there were no people around. We walked around the place a little longer until we stopped in front of the fountain which was also lit up. "Did you know that once when I was a child my father and mother brought me here and this is the place where I got a love for theater and the preforming arts? I fell in love with the idea of spreading knowledge in a form of entertainment, it was magnificent."

I shook my head no. Troy continued on around the center pointing out spots where he remembered and what had occurred there. "Right here, this is where my mom and I sat while waiting for dad to come back from the restroom, it took him forty-five minutes to figure out his way here. We ended up being late for the bus that we were supposed to catch," there was a gleam in his eye as we sat there on a bench, I leaned into him as he kept telling me stories. As the time went on my eye lids began to droop. Until I finally doze off.

I was awoken by Troy nudging me awake whispering in my ear, "Gabi, Gabi! You need to wake up."

I slowly sat up and looked around. "Where are we?" I asked. Troy had a small smile on his face when I asked that.

"We're at the Lincoln Center. Are you good to move yet?" I nodded my head yes. "Okay 'cause we're going to walk back to the car." I nodded again.

It was a slow walk back to the car, and I barely remember a thing. I sat in the passenger's seat and Troy took the wheel. I dozed off again in the car. I opened my eyes when the car came to a stop and the driver's door opened up. Troy walked around the car, opened my door slowly, and pulled me out. He carried me bridal style all the way to the apartment's door where he allowed me to get my key and open the door. Troy laid me down on my bed, took off my shoes and tucked me in. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

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**How was it? Well I'd like you to tell me just click that little 'review' button down there. Do you see it? Huh? Yes? Okay then click it and type something seriously anything like 'I Love Tacos' or 'This chapter was trash' or maybe even 'I love your work send me an autograph'. Please anything! **


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